Why it's hard to be a moderate

I was playing basketball with a group of Chinese students in the other day. It was great and a lot of fun. We were playing half-court basketball and one end of the court was empty.
At the end of one of our match (about 10 people), around six non-Chinese (Lao Wai) students came and asked us whether we wanted to play full court. We got into a debate about playing one full court game vs. playing two half court games. I thought that the opinion among Chinese students might be diverse so I asked everyone to hold their hands up if they want to play full court (which was my preference). The vote didn't pass.
After the night ended, a few Chinese students half-jokingly / half-seriously accused me of siding with the foreigners. I merely tried to reach a democratic consensus without holding onto ethnic divisions. If a game of basketball can lead to ethnic hard-liners speaking out, no wonder racial genocide will still occur in the world. Not only that, I feel sympathy for those people who do not let their ideologies and decisions fall into racial groups. Such as the moderate Hutus. They are perceived to be extremists by the opposing group and traitors by their own group.