[dang]

I don't see any reference to beliefs or positions in the GP comment, nor replies to arguments. "Luxury columnist" is obviously being used as a dismissive label in this thread. If you toss in "Yale" as more or less a bad word, then the entire comment reduces to name-calling. This was not a borderline moderation call.

(Btw the guideline against calling names isn't limited to people in the community.)

[mediumiqsad]

The fact that it's considered a epithet is more revealing than anything else.

Him being an elite - someone who knows he's intrinsically superior to everyone else by virtue of selection - is 100% relevant to his opinions being flawed.

[dang]

I'm not making some deep point here. All your points could be entirely correct and the GP comment was still obviously against the HN guidelines.