I do my best to stick to positive interactions. I like to read a lot of articles I may disagree with, but trying to sway certain viewpoints is at times a fool's errand. Several times I've found myself typing a reply, only to end up deleting it instead and reaching for the mute button.
Perhaps I'm building my own little echo chamber, but I like it! I build up the tags that interest me and leave others to do the same. As new communities emerge and the user base grows, fighting may not subside, but it will be less noticeable. I'm certainly not reading all the content on Steemit, but enough to feel the pulse of the community. A user can hit the "new" tab and realistically cruise through the last few hours of all content posted to Steemit. Try that on Reddit or Facebook! Point is, it's still a small world here so the effects are magnified.
To help in the short term, I've heard brainstorming in the past about a "block" feature and I think this should be the next big implementation now that we have a "nsfw" tag filter. A user should be able to block another from viewing their posts & comments. This would of course be only on the site front end, not at the blockchain level. If someone goes out of their way they could still attack a person or tag, but most often people are only attacking what is in front of them. When flag wars start, if one party is unwilling to mute and go their separate way, a block could save some brawling.