So, here's the thing.

First, as you know, I have always interacted with you very above-board and (I hope) respectfully, even when we've disagreed. I would never, for instance, block you. And I think blocking people, unless they are literally trolls, is the wrong way to go.

That said, and as someone you reference in this piece, let me ask you: do you really think there is value in contrarianism just for its own sake? Because defending the US founders (as you suggested I dared people to do, which isn't literally accuate) even when you don't believe they can be defended from the charge I leveled at them, seems bizarre to me...and revealing.

Here's what I mean. If you are serious about your ethic -- that sometimes people just need to hear "the other side" for the sake of intellectual integrity or whatever -- then where do you draw that line? I bet I know.

I bet -- literally I would bet every dollar I ever made in my life -- that you would not apply that argument to Hitler or Nazism. You would not demand as a matter of intellectual curiosity or whatever the fuck that we should perhaps consider the view of Holocaust deniers so as to have a "full debate" or because the liberal orthodoxy ( also known as the fucking truth) needs to be challenged.

So, when you leap to defend the founders or whatever -- or soft-pedal American racism or misogyny or whatever -- you are making a judgment that these things are less clear cut than Nazism. And perhaps they are in some numerical way in terms of victims (again, even that is arguable by the way) But as longstanding sytems of oppression one could easily argue that American racism and misogyny worldwide have been longer standing horrors that have negatively impacted far more and for far longer...

Point being, you are pulling a punch with your "I'm just asking questions and raising issues" shtick...you're sorta trolling here.

No, not every issue deserves a "both sides" examination. Facts are things...and they do have a liberal/left bias actually...and arguing otherwise when you don't even believe what you're saying is some misanthropic nonsense, which only incredibly privileged people who need not worry about the consequences could entertain...