E Pur Si Muove
<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.paulgraham.com&#x2F;say.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.paulgraham.com&#x2F;say.html</a> is very relevant about how we got here.<p>As Paul Graham said then, the biggest threats to free thought and speech come from people who have just enough power to enforce taboos, and not enough to be confident in their power.  In this case the political ideology that is stifling thought is one that has nationwide lost Congress, the Senate and the Presidency.  Which naturally results in a strong &quot;us vs them&quot; mentality, and stronger incentives to require that everyone prove that they are part of &quot;us&quot;.<p>The result is, as I&#x27;ve heard it put, <i>Liberals are tolerant of anything except being conservative.</i><p>This is not, of course, one-sided.  If you lived in a deeply religious part of the country you&#x27;d find similar levels of intolerance towards liberal ideas as a result of feeling like they are on the receiving end of years of losing the culture war.  That won&#x27;t be the problem that you experience in the Bay area.  But it is two sides of the same mentality that you are either with us or against us.