I think you're making some great points here - there are people out there who shut down opinions they don't like via personal attacks all the while adamantly defending their freedom of speech. There's such a lack of healthy, respectful dialogue. In this new age, if what you say rubs someone the wrong way, you can easily get in trouble, so a pen name is pretty much a necessity if you're trying to put out content that goes against the mainstream narrative. I don't think writing under a pen name is cowardly at all - it's actually very brave that you are standing by what you believe in despite the peer pressure.