[user104658]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

i've seen people on here called racist because they didn't agree with some of the unsavoury things BLM have been up to. That's shutting down criticism

Originally Posted by The Slim Reaper

It's actually not shutting down criticism as two things can sometimes be true. BLM may/may not have overstepped the mark, and people criticising them may/may not also be racist.

I get called an anti semite all the time on here, and not once has it ever stopped me criticising Israel if I thought it was warranted.

I think that's a common mistake really, that "people being called stuff" is shutting down or stopping criticism... when that's entirely down to the critic. You can address it, counter it, or flat out ignore it and continue... it doesn't shut anything down. Really the only people who can be guilty of shutting down a debate are those in a position of literal power to do so; on here that would be mods and admin who can close threads/delete posts/implement bans.

I do think that "mob rule" has unfortunate scope for shutting down good debate as well, by simply swamping the debate to the point where it can't continue, but that doesn't apply on a platform as small as this one.