I generally agree. I only block people when it becomes clear they're not acting in good faith and just want to be a rude douchebag or troll. And even, I try to give them some slack, because hey, I haven't always been mister politeness myself.

e.g. If I give a polite thoughtful response to, say, the Ukraine war, citing my sources, and the only follow-up responses I get are, "Dur shutup you stupid Russian bot!", then yeah, they're done.

No one needs that noise, and no amount of politeness or "love" will help them see the light. They're NPCs brainwashed to hate the "other", so any engagement is a waste of time. But, to your point, you also don't have to reciprocate their hatred.