ANN ALTHOUSE ON THE LEFT’S ASSAULT ON GEORGE WILL:

I think what is happening is more nefarious, because it focuses on the person. It’s not just an idea that is put off limits (such as questioning the veracity of a woman who accuses a man of rape), it’s the person who dares to say it. You are to be regarded as toxic. It’s this fear of being regarded as toxic that inhibits many people from speaking.

The problem isn’t merely that the debate is chilled — that people don’t get to hear the arguments on different sides — but that people are also influenced to choose their side out of a psychological need to be accepted by others and not shunned. Even if, in a chilled-debate environment, you sought out information and arguments on your own and even if you saw the value in them, you might still choose your position out of a desire to be thought of as one of the good people. So the argument “George Will is toxic” works even on people who think George Will makes a persuasive argument.

I’m using the word “toxic” — the poison metaphor — because I see it a lot, and because to me — someone who has lived and worked in a liberal environment for a long time — it expresses the threat of shunning so well: You are afraid that if you associate at all with the toxic person — if you offer one good word — you will have toxin on you, and others will have to avoid you lest they become toxic.

So lefties are basically like Evil Amish, then.