This is a very measured response that many will appreciate, particularly those who are apologists for the dehumanization and online bullying that goes on whenever there is dissent. A small but loud minority controls the discourse on Twitter. And hey, if you don't like the bar, get out of the bar. But now, it has become a feedback loop that has replaced actual reporting (reporters are too intimidated - Jesse Singal was bullied mercilessly for days after the letter came out and as we speak the letter's author is being called out because he tweeted about kicking someone out of his house for trashing Bari Weiss - even though that is not nor will ever be "cancel culture") what is in danger, as Yascha Mounk has expressed many times, is journalists and institutions bowing to pressure to tell the story people WANT rather than the truth. We need brave writers to be willing to tell the truth. If the problem is standing up to cancel culture, maybe the solution is also that if you just ignore them you can continue to honor the values of ethics in journalism and especially in science.

The problem is, no one on the left wants to be called a racist, a rapist or a transphobic person. That makes us all really easy to attack because it hurts so much. Obviously it would not make a dent in a Trump supporter. So we're attacking ourselves. And it's just -- wrong. But immediately necessary is support and defense for institions under fire for allowing open debate. Mounk would be the first one to tell you what is happening lately on the left is creeping a little too close to fascim.