You don’t even have to have committed the offense to be fired. LA Galaxy midfielder Aleksandar Katai was released from his contract over his wife’s social-media posts. Somehow in America in 2020, if the actions of one spouse reflect poorly on the other, he can lose his job.

In Atlanta, the stepmother of one of the cops involved in the shooting of Rayshard Brooks was fired from her human-resources job, by her account simply because of her family link to the officer. Communist regimes the world over similarly punish guilt by family association.

To fight this moral panic, ordinary people will have to be brave, and we all need to show solidarity: People will have to stand up for their friends when they’re in danger of being swarmed, companies will have to stand up for their employees and the rest of us will have to speak out for all of them.