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by thesteamboat 3875 days ago
That's not the best example to pick: people are still killed on accusations of witchcraft. [0,1] The Hollywood blacklists are still in living memory, and someone was fired in the US for being communist ~2001.[2]

I, personally, am something of a free speech absolutist, and believe it is important to protect even (nay, especially) loathsome speech. I am not aware of the what the happened in the incident described in the letter, so I am not willing to judge whether the original letter is an overreaction as tptacek claims, or not. Nevertheless I generally like to see arguments made accurately.

[0]: Papua New Guinea, 2013. http://world.time.com/2013/06/05/despite-legal-moves-pngs-te...

[1]: Tanzania, 2014. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29572974

[2]: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2...