Honestly, I think you're being unproductively passionate. I understand, but sometimes when you feel that swell of righteous anger it might behoove you to pause for a minute before you continue typing. And that applies even if you are absolutely, 100%, correct.

But this:

>Whatever it is we are pushing back against, it is not liberalism.

I agree. Much of the modern far left is the antithesis of liberal, they're strongly authoritarian... but they don't think they are. They've gotten spun around, so they think they are banning, censoring, and restricting in the name of freedom and liberty. It's nonsense, but it's something they can't see when they're in the middle of it... and worked up with their own righteous anger. Or defending against the attacks of others. Nobody thinks straight when they're being attacked.

That's a good reason to actively work on keeping HN discussion civil. It keeps the reactive reptile brains of all involved under control.

Yeah, man, at least pretend to be civilized and don't confess straight away you yearn for being able to shoot people. I'd say that's pretty good advice for reasonable people, and even for the far-left and the far-right.

No, what's happened is that a lot of progressive politics became actively divisive and toxic, which gave opponents actually relevant, insightful commentary about its shortcomings.

At some point the progressive movement will weed out it's toxic members and divisive politics and at that point we can make real progress with making the world a fairer place again.