[dgreensp]

Setting aside the fact that this one comic probably did not have some giant causative effect on Internet culture — it just encapsulated the zeitgeist of a moment, as comics often do — the author is going to have to get more way specific to make a good counterpoint, I think. The argument could be made, for example, that more and more as the years go on, being kicked off a “platform” or “community” is like being kicked off the Internet. However, I think the point in the comic stands.

Calling people out for calling people out on grounds that it’s un-American seems to be what this article is trying to do. There’s still no right to have a TV show or right to not be yelled at.

[happytoexplain]

The comic was probably chosen as the representative of the enemy idea because xkcd had a reputation among some people of being condescending or contrived, which pre-frames the idea in an already negative context for those people and makes it easier to demonize.