@RD8K
Absolutely not. You do NOT sink to their level to try to make them feel bad for using bad tactics. That never works, for one (The internment of the Japanese citizens, the attempts at curbing the activities of the Nazi party, McCarthyism, as examples), and it just makes you as bad as they are. We cannot stop them from acting as they do, but we can hold a tight leash on the rules of our own space and make sure that freedom of expression IS maintained at least where we have a modicum of control.
In the words of Edward R. Murrow: “We cannot defend freedom abroad by abandoning it at home.”
IF these tactics are bad, and they
are bad, then using them, regardless of the intended outcome is
bad, regardless of target.
The way forward is to be the kind of place you’d like to inhabit. If you’d like to inhabit a place that tells these people no, then you have to stick to the principles that are the
reasoning for telling these people no, or you’re just another terrible spot with a different bent.
You don’t fight fire with fire in the war on freedom of expression. That has never worked. The only thing you can do is protect yourself and others, argue with passion and make sure those you can ensure the freedom of have that freedom.
If you turn around and slap away the freedom of expression of the people who used to have sway over you out of spite, then you’re demonstrating that you don’t actually hold the principles of freedom for all, merely for yourself.