In all honesty, as a new member myself, people should focus on creating good content and sincerely comment on other people's works. I did notice @berniesanders flip image yesterday which led me to the flag wars you're talking about. I do believe that the higher-ups will do something about this if they see any threat but like what you've shared, sometimes good can come out of the chaos.
RE: Why the Whale War might be good for Steemit