You are more generous about people's motives and character than I am. Yes, we all make mistakes, we all say thing we regret, but the way elements of our society have been trying to control speech, especially in the last year, but really for more than 2 decades is evil.
It is fundamentally wrong in the same way that slavery is fundamentally wrong and for the same reasons. There is nothing more important to freedom and the pursuit of happiness than autonomy. Human society, led by the United States of America, established this as a truth in 1775 with the Declaration of Independence and other founding documents. We have believed this for more than 200 years and it is an ingrained part of our cultural norms and societal values.
It's not like anyone can say they didn't know that free speech mattered. It is being deliberately attacked to control people and your NYT lady is part of it. She knows what she is doing. So, yes, some of it may be attention seeking, but most of it is actually the elites pushing back at the peasants.
So it seems the elites throughout history, for whatever reason, don't think that ordinary people (the peasants) belong at the autonomy table. I mean, a lot of what we are seeing and discussing is the same theme being played out historically over and over again, that a small group of powerful people get to steer the narrative via populace manipulation. Interesting...
The NYT lady very well indeed knows what she is doing, but like all zealots she has fallen into the hubris trap of using flawed principles to further her agenda (whether it's for self-edification or other reasons is only truly known by her). The problem I have is that if she is misguided and truly believes that she is making a difference, does that make her evil? I agree her actions are horrid. I also completely agree with the premise that any attempt to control speech is evil, but I tend to have trouble with attributing all out judgment on a person who's motives may be skewed by a good heart corrupted by bad information.
And I have to thank you for your most excellent reply, now I have even more idea fodder to chew on, thank you!!