Regarding your tagline:
“As a New York Times columnist, Bari Weiss gets pilloried for decrying intolerance and bias ...”
Interesting that a person who is pilloried is held up to be scorned by the passing public, but a person crucified is nowadays presumed to be a savior.
I’m sure that I’m missing the proper context, but it’s my feeling that the smashing of idols can only rightly be done by the people who own the idols.
It’s metaphorical.