Personal attacks and name-calling are against the site guidelines and not ok here. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and don't post like this to HN again.

It's hard at best to maintain discussion quality about divisive issues, but quite impossible when commenters stoop to lower levels like this.

Is my comment really an attack or a name calling? Surely you meant the parent comment? They called me someone who is yearning for a witch burning but that simply isn't true.

I typed politely and nicely, while the parent was awful and divisive.

> but quite impossible when commenters stoop to lower levels like this.

Like what? Could you please explain? I really don't understand what I did. Surely you meant to reply to the person talking about burning people to death being something that liberals are acting like they want to happen? That is surely the comment you meant to delete and call out, not mine?

Super confused here dang.

Have you read the other thread about Julian Assange on HN today with hundreds of replies? It's full of people calling him a traitor and/or an evil Russian spy that should go to prison for life. Many sensible comments defending Assange as a journalist got down voted all the way to the bottom.

He’s had a long career, it’s possible he’s been both. Just saying.

And maybe he's done nothing wrong and is being punished by the elites for disclosing information damaging to them. War crimes by US military, never answered for, rigging of primaries for candidates chosen by the political establishment, instead of working class people who the party is supposed to represent (ha ha ha).

And the rape

Prison for life is a far cry from the burning at the stake.

Prison for life to a journalist based on charges centered around releasing true/undisputed documents? That is pretty close to burning at the stake in 21st century standards imho.

Those people aren't progressives.

They appear to be progressives. The most aggressive of the posts are from people who seem to be very strong Democrats/liberals who are blaming Assange for 2016 election result. The smaller part of progressives defending Assange seem to be Bernie supporters (so a minority in progressive movement).

I am definitely reading that vibe too. The blame anyone that doesn't support you was supposed to be a facet of GOP politics. Apparently it's ALL mob justice and your with me or against me from here on out. Sucks.

No, he's absolutely right. And your idealization of 'progressives' is completely laughable.

You must not be active on twitter.

It's probably true the left is on average more passive, but to claim it's unlikely any progressive would spew vitrol or be violent?? Ever heard of antifa?

And you sir, are feeding the trolls. The flag button exists for a reason.

If we're considering Antifa as the norm for the left we might as well consider neonazis as such for the right.

Check out Sargon of Akad's youtube channel, he does a good job of documenting and commenting on "progressives" especially when they are behaving hatefully or violently.

(Any reason for the down votes? You may not like Sargon, but he he addresses exactly what the OP is talking about a lot of the time.)