The Times, of course, has not fired Douthat for WASP nostalgia. Nor are they likely to fire him for saying, in his follow-up column, that his political ideal is a “multiracial, multilingual Catholic aristocracy ruling from Quebec to Chile.” In one sense, that suggests that they are comfortable with those views as part of the spectrum of opinion their readers deserve to hear, and with Douthat as the kind of writer who can expound those opinions in a mode that is appropriately respectful of deep political disagreement. (I agree on both counts.)

In another sense, though, what it suggests is that the Times is confident that a wave of Twitter outrage is not actually a threat to their bottom line. Their readers may write nasty comments, but they aren’t actually going to leave. In fact, they don’t even actually want Douthat to leave, because the opportunity to vent their outrage is part of the experience they came for, whether they actually read his piece or just heard about it on Twitter.

How many other respectable institutions and individuals are in the same position? How many are stronger than they think and could weather the outrage cycle simply by saying: Twitter outrage isn’t real outrage; Twitter shame isn’t real shame. This medium only has power if we choose to believe it does. But we know who and what we are, and we’re going to keep being who and what we are, and will trust our own good judgment to prevail not only in the fullness of time, but in time to keep us solvent.