yayyy!
am listening now. i think this digging up of any and everyone's years old comments is a quest towards perfection (like the corporate quest towards endlessly increasing profits) and it's dumb and wrong and impossible.
it also points up why people shouldn't be using their real names online for personal accounts. people don't respect their own privacy anymore. (yes, if people who know you offline know who you are online, it could still be exposed, but why make it so easy?)
as for the arresting of numpties at the uni, yes i actually do think they should have been - for disturbing the peace and/or whatever 'hate crime' element they will have added in, i suppose. they won't be 'locked up forever', so that's not an issue; some short period of time is a deterrent though.
there have been similar and worse racial incidents at universities in the US over the last few years (don't know if the culprits were even identified, much less what consequences there were), and we really don't need to go back to the bad old days of open, accepted racism.
there have always been SOME limits on free speech, like the classic example yelling 'fire' in a crowded theatre. (also, speech - yelling repeatedly in or in front of the residence halls at night - is a step or two beyond thought. it's creating a hostile, threatening atmosphere.)
lastly, i agree with you about the soap opera aspect to the news. been going on since the 1990s now. slid into it with the constant fearmongering & drama (i remember seinfeld did a bit about this in his standup back then) and overt product placement. literal soap opera.
thanks for doing another episode this week! glad you're feeling better!