I remember when Jacob Appelbaum was called "rapist, sociopath, plagiarist" and how pages of pages of comments on HN defended that with the most shoddy intellect

I remember when Jacob Appelbaum was called "rapist, sociopath, plagiarist" and how pages of pages of comments on HN defended that with the most shoddy intellectual contortions, always complete with an air of moral superiority -- and I remember how the few sane voices were treated. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11844625 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11844625 But you could surely just describe it differently, like saying there's just "a few instances of college liberals losing their temper on camera", so where are the examples, right? > I don't actually think anybody really thinks this. I've never heard this ideology espoused by anybody It is acted on, not espoused, it's probably incompatible with consciously being aware of it. What is said is usually some variation of "look what you made me do". (no, not in those literal words, but in meaning) Not that I would ever apply that all to "the left", or "progressives". But there's a lot of people calling themselves that, while being anything but. They just smell the power that a cult of victimhood can convey, and they are cruel and have double standards. The proof is in the pudding -- in what they do, how they reason, not in what is written on the flag. And it hurts those who are actually true to the causes which others just espouse, to use as tools to get to peck on others. > Additionally, the phrase "virtue signalling" is extremely sloppy. I agree very much with that. But so is "a few instances of college liberals losing their temper on camera". Might as well reply to your comment with "oh, it just seems like you entered a bunch of characters in a textarea and pressed the reply button". Technically true, totally useless for communication.