[librvf]

> You're leaving out the part where A whips up a real mob and lynches somebody.

Yeah because that hasn't happened, and if it did would be met with universal condemnation and be up against full weight of law enforcement and the legal system.

> And what do you think has a stronger chilling effect: the possibility of being fired or the possibility of being murdered?

If the possibility of being fired for ideas is highly likely while the possibility of being murdered for ideas is essentially zero, then the possibility of being fired has a stronger chilling effect.

[Avshalom]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_in_the_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_crime#Victims_in_the_Unit...

[librvf]

We're discussing the situation in present-day tech culture, mostly with regards to Silicon Valley and the Bay Area as compared to China.

[Avshalom]

The broad history of violent bigotry in the United States does not get magically forgotten by people just because they write code for a living. And that history and that present reality means that many things are not just abstract propositions but are direct threats.

[librvf]

> And that history and that present reality means that many things are not just abstract propositions but are direct threats.

Historical context alone does not make a direct threat. A direct threat is a direct threat, and right now being accused of racism (no matter the truth of it) is far more scary than racism itself.