That line stuck out to me as well. It's a good example of this victimhood mindset where even when the people on the left are the ones being reprimanded they insist that the other side started it and forced their hand somehow. There is not a single note of personal responsibility. Obviously the whole article has this bias but it is wild to me how oblivious lines like this look.

Unrelated to what "side" of the "war" people making statements are on, I would think that the typical role of the HR department would be to examine the context surrounding inappropriate statements at work before taking action.

If the HR department doesn't operate that way, or the company guidelines suggest that some statements demand reprimand regardless of context, then I would suggest the issue would be surrounding the way the HR department operates rather than the people making complaints to HR.

Honestly, I could see HR legitimately reprimanding inflammatory statements, regardless of context, that were strong enough to get them involved. It's an escalation of a disagreement and employees should be expected to behave more professionally.