We've turned off the flags, but we all need to take extra care to comment civilly and substantively so that we have a chance to discuss the actual issue. Users often flag stories like this because they're anticipating flamewars and not at all because they disagree with the content of the article.
I think it's a bit uncool to "turn off the flags" here. I flagged this specifically because I am tired of the incessant flamewar that will surely happen in here.
When moderators do this we compensate by giving the thread specific attention to attempt to prevent such flamewars as best we can.