Given that both cofax7 and coffeeandink felt it a genuine risk that the OP would be attacked and vilified for bringing up that matter in the first place
You mean the so-called dogpilers' opinion--the one that supposedly we're all brainwashed to believe and about which dissent is never possible? That in itself shows that one can never predict what people are going to think.
given I can think of several people who reluctant to mention race except in flocked posts or even only in person, it doesn't strike me as inconceivable that interesting and productive conversations are being shut down.
I couldn't--and wouldn't--deny that people think "Is this going to be wanky?" before they post and this influences them; it just seems that there happens to be a healthy dialectic nonetheless. There's always going to be conversations not taking place for one reason or the other, but so many do.
no subject
You mean the so-called dogpilers' opinion--the one that supposedly we're all brainwashed to believe and about which dissent is never possible? That in itself shows that one can never predict what people are going to think.
given I can think of several people who reluctant to mention race except in flocked posts or even only in person, it doesn't strike me as inconceivable that interesting and productive conversations are being shut down.
I couldn't--and wouldn't--deny that people think "Is this going to be wanky?" before they post and this influences them; it just seems that there happens to be a healthy dialectic nonetheless. There's always going to be conversations not taking place for one reason or the other, but so many do.