I think part of the issue is that the US doesn't have a left, just Dems, who are rightwing by the standards of other countries, though that kind of situation is becoming increasingly the case elsewhere like here in the UK, too, not least because American politics tend to spread. Since Dems aren't interested in being a real opposition, they have to invent things, some of which are trivial or ridiculous, to differentiate themselves to pretend they're one. Meanwhile the far right abuse the concept of free speech to mean 'the right to use the N-word while saying that black people are genetically inferior without getting any push back for saying it', not just to risk causing offence for a valid reason, and deal with any criticism which is itself free speech. That in turn led Dems to become, rightly, suspicious of bad faith actors in arguments that were ostensibly about freedoms, and the thing to spiral from there. I don't think there's going to be any progress till we can have more sensible conversations about where the lines are. Very, very few people actually believe in unlimited free speech.

About to watch Mignonnes/Cuties, which apparently offended both Republicans and Dems - the French never seem to care.