I am not suggesting that we must shed tears for these groups. Only that we be aware that there are people who have longed to shut down far more voices than just these obviously odious ones, and that we might want to keep a close eye as events continue to unfold.

For example, a bunch of right-wing websites, including a 50-year-old Catholic publication I myself wrote for in the old days (but eventually told me I was no longer welcome), recently received a sinister letter from ProPublica, a left-wing site. (Some places shun me for being too right-wing, others for not being right-wing enough; such is my interesting life.)

The letter ran:

I am a reporter at ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative newsroom in New York. I am contacting you to let you know that we are including your website in a list of sites that have been designated as hate or extremist by the American [sic] Defamation League or the Southern Poverty Law Center. We have identified all the tech platforms that are supporting websites on the ADL and SPLC lists.

We would like to ask you a few questions: