I think I will never love or hate some things at the same level some people here love or hate some things. You are so impassioned about your hobbies, characters, books, movies, games, technologies. Maybe it's a cultural thing. Am I missing something?
Well, during the election season the various actors on the scene work really, really hard to drive wedges between people in order to solidify their voting base, believers, or ideologies.
Outside election issues, I suspect there's a few other things at play. There may be something to the idea that if your life is going well, then you crave drama/debate/conflict. "First world problems" is a result of this idea, also "making a mountain out of a mole hill" - what it really suggests is a very limited perspective. If you have travelled pretty far up maslow's hierarchy of needs, then you are no longer arguing/fighting/struggling about and for food and shelter, but over ideas and concepts.
I suspect part of it is cultural, some may be US centric - take our entertainment, for instance, we constantly seek new things we haven't seen before, these things push boundaries. It's not much different in our politics. A politician is in the pocket of big business? Old news, it's practically expected. Someone has a hard stance on immigration? That's nothing new. Mark all the immigrants? Deport them en masse? Well that's new. The things we should be worrying about are the things that are often seen as mundane, but we can't stop reporting on and talking about the things that are interesting to the average viewer - and that will always be the things that are personal, divisive, and easy to have an opinion on without any real expertise.
But it isn't just the US. Literature has changed over the centuries. It use to be that the peak action or reveal in literature happened much closer to the middle of the story than the end. Writers found, over time, that the books which had a longer set up and put the reveal closer to the end sold better. People appear to naturally crave the stress and strain of the build up, but lose interest rapidly after the denouement.
I suspect there's a physical connection as well - stress, arguing, feeling good about the positions you hold, finding others with whom you share similar ideas and beliefs - they all feed into the hormones your body produces, and there's likely a "high" - though perhaps small - associated with many of these activities. But even small highs can change how a person acts and reacts in later similar situations.
All that can happen without being passionate for something, though. I've always like the act of creation and problem solving, and I find its easiest outlet in electronics and programming. My first recollection of knowing about this passion was in 3rd grade (about 8 years old), and since then I've followed that.
My wife, on the other hand, has a degree in Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space science, and while she's been interested in a lot of things she too has lamented that she hasn't identified a thing that she's passionate about in a way similar to my passion for electronics. She knew she wanted an engineering degree, chose that one, and as a result really enjoys weather and weather forecasting, as well as all the other aspects of the degree she discovered, but she wonders what she's missing out on, not having a passion for something specific. (yes, yes, insert joke about a large family here. Maybe she's passionate about grandchildren, and doesn't realize it yet!)
I don't think that means she or you are missing something, but I don't know. There's a sense of fulfillment when I complete a particularly difficult task, but that feeling is the same whether that task had to do with the subject I'm passionate about, or something completely unrelated. I have a million little things I'd like to explore within my favorite subject that I know I'll never get to, but chances are you have a similar list of things you'd like to do, it's just not dominated by one subject. It's quite possible that by being so focussed I'm missing out on a great many things you enjoy at a level I cannot. It's hard to say.
I think the only thing a passion really gives you is focus, drive, motivation, or a goal. You can have those things without passion, but passion demands it of you, and you can feel empty if you aren't pursuing it. For some people I suspect it's a ball and chain more than a benefit.
Who knows. In some dystopic future passion may be relegated to the DSM as a mental illness.
