New York Times editor Bari Weiss learned the hard way that her religion would tolerate no heretics. It wasn’t the Jewish religion, but the social justice one that got her. The Chicago Dykes had no place for Jews in their march. It was the obvious and inevitable outcome of a “movement” based on identities rather than principles.

Well, in practice, intersectionality functions as kind of caste system, in which people are judged according to how much their particular caste has suffered throughout history. Victimhood, in the intersectional way of seeing the world, is akin to sainthood; power and privilege are profane.

Can one be lesbian and Jewish? Sure, provided you hide that you’re Jewish and accept the fact that your priestesses decided that Palestinians were good and Israelis, broadened to Jews because nuance is hard for the unduly emotional to grasp, were evil. So, the lesbian Jews were thrown out. Bari Weiss was forced to confront the reality of her social justice religion: she was the heretic.

This could have been the end of it, but that wasn’t possible. If there is anything the social justice warriors demand, it’s the final word.

“When Progressives Embrace Hate,” by Bari Weiss (Opinion,nytimes.com, Aug. 1), perpetuates a flawed narrative that is dangerous for many reasons, most fundamentally because it threatens to divide and distract progressives at a time when we need to stand united.

It frames challenging discussions that our movement must continue to embrace — conversations about struggle and liberation, about inclusion and understanding — as hateful or taboo. Ms. Weiss is endorsing a sensational alt-right attack that aims to discredit the Women’s March movement and its leaders and to derail the progress we have made since January.

This comes from Bob Bland, a co-president of the Woman’s March. Apparently, the concept of a single president isn’t acceptable, but the concept of titles for official hierarchies is. More importantly, Bland goes to “false narrative” and “alt-right attack” without doing something that one would expect of a riposte: dispute the facts or conclusions. Ad hominems are the weapons of the lamely pseudo-tolerant.

Her article is a distraction at a critical moment when rights are being stripped from vulnerable communities every day.

Put aside the hysterical* hyperbole of “rights” stripped from “vulnerable communities every day.” Note instead the start of the sentence, that Bari Weiss, alt-right shill that she is, was a “distraction.” That’s the key.

Facts? Reason? Reality? Consequences? Distractions all.

There is a goal to be achieved, hegemony of their favored victims, and it is not for the congregation to question the high priestesses as to whom they must pray. Everything else is a distraction. Don’t think about what they do, the hypocrisy of “love” being hate. Ignore the conflict between different people, all of whom have the same “right,” where the co-president dictates that one person is “good” and another “evil,” such that one deserves to have their rights elevated and the other, well burn them at the stake.

Bland’s “argument,” to the extent one can call some basic name-calling and a mindless plea to adhere to her orthodoxy an argument, is that thinking distracts her social justice tribe from their feelings, and her control over the tribe demands that she not allow them to be distracted, to think.

As a cis-heterosexual white woman new to feminist activism, I found that there were times in planning the January march that were uncomfortable, and times that even with as much empathy as I could muster, I couldn’t relate to someone else’s point of view.

That is the nature of a movement as inclusive and intersectional as ours. Discomfort is often necessary for growth. It is because of these differences, not in spite of them, that I stand in solidarity with my fellow organizers Carmen Perez, Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory.

We are a movement grounded in love for all people, but especially for the vulnerable, the oppressed and the marginalized.

If this rings familiar, there’s a reason.

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

Much as people like Bland may well believe as hard as they can that their goals are the one and only true god, and try to silence their critics like Bari Weiss for their distracting facts and reason by name-calling for lack of any substantive dispute, the fallacy is inadvertently revealed. Did Weiss suddenly shift from feminist, believer in equality, good person, because she objected to the vilification and exclusion of Jewish lesbians?

Consider the possibility that the vast majority of Americans believe in equality, opportunity for all and fundamental fairness. They may well be imperfect beliefs, but they’re not evil or deplorable. They’re just not the orthodoxy demanded by the high priestesses. Yours are likely imperfect too, which is why the shrews scold you when you’re insufficiently obsequious, then praise you when you toe their line like good little soldiers.

The marching jackboots of the left are no more attractive than those of the right. The sound of marching boots can be alluring or distracting. You can join the march, either team will give you a pair of boots as long as you submit to their will, or you can be distracted by facts, reason, reality and consequences.

*Yes, yes, I know that calling a woman “hysterical” is misogyny, as I was informed by the pet boys of #AppellateTwitter, who dutifully responded when threatened with being sexists themselves for not coming out to support the fragile women whose feelings are hurt whenever an unhinged woman is marked as unhinged. I only hope they got their tummy rubbed and a treat for being such compliant allies to the insipid girls.