See also: The college administration cancer and cost disease in general. I think to myself "man these people must be fun at parties", then I remember one of their main self-appointed goals is to prevent things like parties. It seems they've been successful enough at it to move on to other forms of humans' interaction.
Alternatively, let culture exist and evolve. Call shitheads out as shitheads, including shitheads [0] who grandstand by tone policing. Assume good faith [1]. Endeavor to punch up. Accept mistakes, both by others and your own.
Also, I have to hope there is growing dissent to this nonsense by normal society, that doesn't devolve into beating the "woke" strawman and other societally-destructive spite. That's the ultimate rub with this hyperpolarized off-in-the-weeds online-driven nonsense culture - as a person who generally wants to be left alone, I don't want to sign up for either the blue or red flavored cults of idiotic memes.
[0] Sorry, I've realized that was offensive to those with feces in their head, that don't have a head, feces, and feces enthusiasts. I promise that I've paid for an indulgence.
[1] Someone will inevitably call this out as contradictory with the previous sentence. The world is full of contradictions. Embrace them.
I'm skeptical of the concept of "punching up" in general. It seems to assume a single sorting criterion. As a counter-example, suppose someone high up in an organization is from a historically disenfranchised ethnicity. Is attacking them "punching up" or "punching down"?
There is obviously no single sorting criterion for people. I do agree there is a huge moral hazard where people in privileged positions (eg college administrators) want to fall back on a less-relevant "identity" to deflect legitimate criticism.
Ultimately, it's not about the person, but rather what you're attacking. Are you attacking their position and policies, or are you attacking their ethnicity? The former is punching up, the latter is punching down.
If you're attacking their ethnicity because you don't like their policies, that's essentially still punching down, and makes for a terribly ineffective criticism of their policies.
If you're attacking their policies because you don't like their ethnicity, you could be trying to punch down while cloaking it in an aura of punching up. But your criticism would still need to be evaluated on its own merits regardless. It's likely that your criticism of the policies won't be that great, and people will see right through them.
Alternatively, let culture exist and evolve. Call shitheads out as shitheads, including shitheads [0] who grandstand by tone policing. Assume good faith [1]. Endeavor to punch up. Accept mistakes, both by others and your own.
Also, I have to hope there is growing dissent to this nonsense by normal society, that doesn't devolve into beating the "woke" strawman and other societally-destructive spite. That's the ultimate rub with this hyperpolarized off-in-the-weeds online-driven nonsense culture - as a person who generally wants to be left alone, I don't want to sign up for either the blue or red flavored cults of idiotic memes.
[0] Sorry, I've realized that was offensive to those with feces in their head, that don't have a head, feces, and feces enthusiasts. I promise that I've paid for an indulgence.
[1] Someone will inevitably call this out as contradictory with the previous sentence. The world is full of contradictions. Embrace them.