[samastur]

In their company, sure. Try being a liberal at a Trump rally.

Things may have gotten worse, but there was never a time when you could freely say without consequences whatever you thought in whichever social group.

It may have felt like that if you were part of a privileged group and did not stray too far.

[pliny]

My question was normative, I suppose another way to rephrase it is "Do you want to live in a world where only people with the correct opinions can make jokes and enjoy the benefit of the doubt? If not, why are you enforcing social norms you don't endorse?"

The choice isn't automatic: abritinthebay apparently does endorse a hostile interpretation of any speech by people who "hold opinions that have been demonstratably wrong for 40+ years" and "made a concious choice to be a bigot", which I believe makes both comedy and nuance impossible, but at least they're honest about it.