Comment by CoffeeDregs

You're a very well regarded HNer, so I'm not happy writing a critique of your comment [<- ironically, I initially wrote "I apologize for..."].

    >I very well may be sorry that I brought [slavery] 
    >up on MLK day, but I'm not really sorry for 
    >feeling the way I do

You can't apologize for making someone feel badly about something if you still hold that something to be true. Using your MLK/slavery example, why are you apologizing? You are apologizing because you empathize with the black/white person you offended with your statement. You cannot do so if you still hold slavery to be good; if you maintain your belief in slavery as you say this not-apology statement, then you are placating or mollifying or appeasing.

    >We need to make sure we are not 
    >trying to tell people how to think. 

You follow this with suggesting something like Socratic-methodizing them, which is basically a mechanism to get people to think your way.

    >it's not okay for a mob to dictate to you 
    >what your policies should be

Maybe it's not "ok" (whatever that might mean), but it's reality: see law, ethics, morals, common values, cliques, villages, associations, "shunning" or any other "mob" defined construct/action... I agree with a version of your statement that has additional nuance (involving power), but, as written, the statement rejects human mechanics.