Or saying that his view is also shared by people he considers intelligent, and thus can only be rejected by others, who first need to proof to him, that they are actually intelligent. Aka. an indirect ad hominem.
If the poster agreed with the opinion, they wouldn’t have included “actually” (indicating that they think the reader will be feeling incredulous at that point) and “otherwise intelligent.”
Yes correct, I vehemently disagree with people who say things like the first paragraph. I definitely should have been more clear that that was not my opinion, but it's too late to edit now
While being a worthy goal, this wasn't the issue here at all. I did read his comment fully and I did read comments indicating the now confirmed interpretation, and due to that (not despite) I made my own comment, asking for the basis of that interpretation, because I don't share it.
Meaning the poster finds it surprising that intelligent site operators would honestly think that.