I honestly see treat defenders and people complaining about how you should "let people have fun" far more in online spaces than irl. Treat defenders and treat defending don't really exist irl, at least in my own personal experience. I've seen far more celeb and sports defending among my coworkers. Let's put it this way: people aren't going to start throwing hands because you said Game of Thrones has gratuitous nudity and violence or the sequels are worse than the prequels. But talk shit about someone's favorite team, especially if they're a serious fan and you're a fan of the rival team? Yeah, you're going to get a very different response than calling their childhood cartoon a glorified toy commercial.