[magic_haze]

I think it's the equivalent of the middlebrow dismissal we so often see here in HN, rather than any faith in humanity. As you mentioned, it is just too easy to come up with a generic "how dare you" response, which is guaranteed to draw in existing prejudices and pitchforks. I don't think the intent is to drown out rational debate of the original statement -- it just happens to be the victim in the race for clickcounts.