Monica: No problem, Monica. I hope someone from Medium reads your post and my response. You did lay out your point with civility and logic.

I kind of feel sorry for the social media managers. They are trying to find some balance with freedom of speech and shutting out hate. Leaving the forum as totally uncensored means the whackos taking over. So there has to be some censorship. In the end, the forum has to decide on its own culture--and sometimes it listens to the wrong people .

"A silent coup"? Too bad reasonable Americans are not building their own democracy.

And yes, the coup can come from the political left.