If you’re not living in fear of being torn apart on social media, last week brought another reminder of why you should.

On Wednesday, Sarah Jeong, hired the day before as the newest member of the New York Times editorial board, was lambasted after tweets of hers were excavated from 2014-5 — a year Jeong spent tweeting things like “white men are bullshit,” “#CancelWhitePeople” and “it’s kind of sick how much joy I get from being cruel to old white men.”

Calls for Jeong’s firing on Twitter quickly followed. By Thursday afternoon, she had said she regretted the tweets, and the Times released a statement saying it didn’t condone the tweets but was keeping her on.

Even those who were rightly offended by Jeong should be cheering the Times’ decision. Because every time someone is fired for old tweets or jokes they made years ago, the increasingly unhinged online mob gains a little more authority.