“Who Cares What Norm Macdonald Thinks?” asked Esquire magazine the other day. Well, I do. And I mostly care because he’s not one of these lockstepping milquetoast celebrities I do my best to avoid reading about in magazines like Esquire.

For one thing, Macdonald bucks the contemporary trend of comedians replacing humor with insipid sermons about their pet social justice issues. For another, the former “Saturday Night Live” cast member doesn’t seem to be riddled by fear every time he does mock or assess society’s sacred cows — which was once the purview of people who called themselves “comedians.”

Why is Macdonald in the news? In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, promoting his new “nothing topical” Netflix program, “Norm Macdonald Has a Show,” he challenged convention by noting he was “happy” that the #MeToo movement “has slowed down a little bit.” Without any context, the quote, one endlessly looping through social media, sounds unsympathetic. But what Macdonald went on to say was: “It used to be ‘One hundred women can’t be lying.’ And then it became, ‘One woman can’t lie.’ And that became, ‘I believe all women.’ And then you’re like, ‘What?’ ”

Macdonald didn’t say, “Harvey Weinstein got a raw deal” or “Women are generally lying,” because either would have been absurd. He asserted that there are instances where careers and reputations are destroyed using unsubstantiated accusations and a lack of due process.

If you don’t believe this sort of thing happens, you haven’t been paying attention to college campuses, where, for years, cases of sexual assault and misconduct have been adjudicated using increasingly lower standards of evidence, with punishment sometimes being handed out before any genuine investigation is conducted.

Macdonald’s other transgression was expressing empathy for his friends Louis C.K. and Roseanne Barr, people who, he argued, were afforded “no forgiveness” even after admitting wrongdoing and then apologizing. “There are very few people that have gone through what they have, losing everything in a day,” Macdonald said. “Of course, people will go, ‘What about the victims?’ But you know what? The victims didn’t have to go through that.”

Well, some victims “go through” it, and others do not. Some women surely had their careers — not to mention their lives — ruined when dealing with men like Harvey Weinstein. And it’s worth noting Louis C.K.’s critics have suggested his harassment derailed careers.

Other people merely hear some mean words. But Macdonald wasn’t defending the actions of his friends, as much as he was pointing out that we now render immediate and severe judgment based on celebrity’s worst moments, sometimes instantaneously memory-holing entire careers.

Now, a person can reasonably disagree with Macdonald’s assessment of the situation. But can they really be deathly offended by it? Is offering an argument itself enough to get you blacklisted?

Sure is. Macdonald’s sentiments were enough for “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” to cancel a planned appearance on Tuesday due to “sensitivity to our audience.” Is “The Tonight Show” audience really too emotionally brittle to witness two comedians talking about forgiveness? Or do the people who run these shows demand retribution against anyone who irritates their puritanical ideas?

It seems that the latter is far more likely. In an interview with Howard Stern, Macdonald recalled that, in a meeting to discuss the appearance, Fallon told him that he’d received pressure from the show’s staffers and others — some of whom were “crying” — over his appearance, and that he would have to cancel.

What is almost certain to happen in this environment is that social commentators like comedians will become increasingly unwilling to say anything counterintuitive or, for that matter, interesting. There are careers at stake, after all. The boundaries of permissible discussion will continue to become more restrictive and boring.

Even Macdonald caved and apologized for his words. But I have no interest in treating him as celebrity hero. And, it seems to me, he has no interest in being one. Which is another reason I care what he thinks.

David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The Federalist and the author of the forthcoming “First Freedom.”