and you think the Internet has only been politicized for 8?
I didn't say the internet wasn't politicized. I said that having to "check the political climate" before making a post, i.e. self censoring, is new(ish). You gonna tell me that you never posted online that having lesbian parents is okay before it became accepted to do so? I'll bet you did and I'll bet you did it more than once.
This idea that posts running counter to the current cultural / political climate shouldn't be made is pure horseshit. Usenet was stuffed to the gills with counter culture of all kinds, it was expected and accepted. Yes there were epic flame wars but that's because people didn't self censor an unpopular opinion because of the "current political climate". I was there.
Online discourse is a pale shadow of what it once was and I put the blame squarely on the rise of this idea that people should self-censor in order to avoid giving offense. Fuck that and fuck people who believe that's how it should be.
Edit: One Usenet if a user really REALLY couldn't stomach what another user was spouting then they put 'em in the kill file. That's what "plonk" meant.