(I’m writing these comments kind of quickly, sorry for sloppiness.)
With regard to
Where X is the bad thing ACE did, the situation is clearly far more nuanced as to how bad it is than something like sexual misconduct, which, by the time we have decided something deserves that label, is unequivocally bad.
In this particular case, Will seems to agree that X was bad and concerning, which is why my comment felt fair to me.
I would have no meta-level objection to a comment saying “I disagree that X is bad, I think it’s actually fine”.
I think the meta-level objection you raised (which I understood as: there may be costs of not criticising bad things because of worry about second-order effects) is totally fair and there is indeed some risk in this pattern (said this in the first line of my comment). This is not what I took issue with in your comment. I see you’ve responded to our main disagreement though, so I’ll respond on that branch.
(I’m writing these comments kind of quickly, sorry for sloppiness.)
With regard to
In this particular case, Will seems to agree that X was bad and concerning, which is why my comment felt fair to me.
I would have no meta-level objection to a comment saying “I disagree that X is bad, I think it’s actually fine”.
I think the meta-level objection you raised (which I understood as: there may be costs of not criticising bad things because of worry about second-order effects) is totally fair and there is indeed some risk in this pattern (said this in the first line of my comment). This is not what I took issue with in your comment. I see you’ve responded to our main disagreement though, so I’ll respond on that branch.