Hobbes predicted flame wars in 1651
In Leviathan Hobbes wrote:
For commentaries are commonly more subject to cavil than the text, and therefore need other commentaries; and so there will be no end of such interpretation.
If that doesn’t describe and explain flame wars — and perhaps the whole internet, nothing ever will. It also explains the whole cottage industry of political writers who do nothing but parse other people’s words. I’m going to write something long on parsing soon. It’s the scourge of our age.