From my reading of Theravada Buddhism, specifically the Thai Forest Tradition, hot button topics are quagmires. Part of us wants to say, "there is a clearly right answer". And we want to align ourselves with the right side.
It's instructive that I reread Thanissaro's Bhikkhu's article on "No Self". A wanderer asked the Buddha if there was self. He was silent. They they asked if there was no self. He was silent. The wander left, and he told his fellow mendicants that any answer would have guided the wanderer poorly.
The highlight is that the focus wasn't on the correctness of an answer, but on the helpfulness of an answer. Avoid the unhelpful/unskillful. Embrace the helpful/skillful.
