I held my tongue in the other thread, but I feel like I need to say my piece (and as a white male, I have been told all my life that it is my right to be listen

I held my tongue in the other thread, but I feel like I need to say my piece (and as a white male, I have been told all my life that it is my right to be listened to, so forgive me for acting upon that impulse). HN holds a very special place in my heart. To me, this community is still one of the absolute best for impartial, high level, and overall courteous discussions about a lot of hot button and polarizing issues among some very smart and influential people (and this is completely setting aside the wonderful technical/startup aspect). Very often you find those who lose their cool downvoted to oblivion for the sake of rational discourse, whether people agree or not, and every day that warms my heart and gives me hope for the future of humanity. The greater internet has evolved into a global phenomenon, and with that has come an Eternal September of those who believe that anonymously shouting as loud as they can in comment sections and forums is a substitute for high level reasoning and discourse, thus I am driven to ever smaller enclaves, HN being one of those. For people that pride themselves on seeking out and eradicating cognitive biases both within themselves and within others I saw a dis-heartening amount of group think and cognitive dissonance among many earlier today. People who have been trusted as linchpins of our community for many years were immediately attacked for simply not being vitriolic towards BE, and even more worrying, his supporters. I will lay down my life for you to exercise your freedom of opinion and speech (this is not hyperbole... I see no point in living if I may not live freely), and some days I honestly wonder about whether my children (should I chose to have progeny) will enjoy those same freedoms, thanks to the fine people at the NSA. Yet never once was I ever afraid of being silenced on my home turf, if you will. Never could I have fathomed the amount of simple hate that came from both sides today. It shook a lot of my belief in this community, and made me finally realize that maybe PG has been right to tighten the moderating screws. As I'm sure a lot of you were, I was frequently bullied and insulted as a child and teen. Being different made me an easy target, and I still suffer from both the physical and emotional scars that I received. I would hope that many of you would remember a time you too were the target of a larger group simply for not conforming to what they expected. I would hope that many of you who were so quick to spew insults and acrid words would take a step back to remember that we are all human beings, that we are all different in so many wonderful ways, and diversity of thought, opinion and person is what makes us strong. Marriage equality is a large issue in our society today, and fortunately we still live in a country that gives us the right to freely express our political and social beliefs. We still have the right to change our government for the better. We still are able to mold our society as we see fit. Please, take your righteous anger and use it for the better good. If BE infuriates you, then go out there and start getting signatures on ballots in the various states where marriage equality is either ill defined or non-existent. If you subscribe to BE's views then start calling your representatives. Show your "hacker" spirit and build a website that provides literature on your beliefs, no matter what they were. But for the love of all that is good, and true, and beautiful, do not tear down a fellow human for simply exercising their God given (as per the Constitution and Human Rights charters) rights by voicing their beliefs, however repugnant they may be. Pain and suffering is a zero sum game, and the increase of it does our whole species a disfavor. If you must find a direct release to your anger please aim it at those who seek to incite this kind of partisan behavior for their own good. It would treat us all well to remember most of us have either purchased goods from companies that have given donations to both sides of the aisle on this issue, and yet we do not tear their representatives limb from limb when the topic arises. Being equitable in your dealings will never hurt you, I can assure you of that. These are my two cents. Take them for what you will, but please do not ruin this wonderful oasis of learning that we all benefit from daily.