The mob wants to think it's self-critical when asked directly. But I dare the mob to be self-critical of some popularly held belief without the pretext of this

The mob wants to think it's self-critical when asked directly. But I dare the mob to be self-critical of some popularly held belief without the pretext of this meta commentary. HN can be very one sided, and it shows in lots of discussions, from ads to piracy to language choices.