[nscalf]

Social media has created more mental illness in people. It's become normalized to jump to extreme slander like racist or sexist, etc. In my experience over the past 8 years on HN, when I am flippantly called things like that for disagreeing with something, there is usually a wave of nuanced, intellectually honest people who support you in the comments.

My advice is to "post and ghost". HN doesn't show you when someone else commented, so just move on. I personally don't care what non-nuanced thinkers think about me, and I know people who are willing to engage honestly with me will either prove me wrong or disagree without feeling the need to rip me apart. I think the consequences of dissenting are overblown.