> It wasn't until this memo that I realized how many people, when presented with a body of text, immediately start performing motive inference, subtext analysis, dogwhistle detection, etc.

When evaluating a piece of software, do you look for the subtle signs that it's poorly maintained, or that the developer has contempt for decent software engineering practices?

When you see a headline like "P versus NP", do you look at criteria like http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=304 to check for signs of credibility?

When you see the latest anti-systemd screed (not thoughtful critique, just random thoughtless reiterated bashing treaded out again and again), do you notice how many of those screeds intentionally misspell it as "SystemD", and display other such warning signs?

People are very good at pattern matching, including social patterns.