I have a responsibility to treat users in a way that I consider fair, which includes protecting data such that it doesn't get used in a way that I wouldn't want my data used, or that a person who is more sensitive than me wouldn't want their data used.

I do not agree that I have any sort of implicit responsibility to treat my users in a way that an EU bureaucrat deems fair.

The question I was answering was why my company is collecting this data. We have email subscribers from the EU because...they subscribed to our email list. We don't advertise in the EU, we have no EU-specific languages or currency on any of our projects, etc. But EU users still want to subscribe to our content, visit our site, etc. So we're "collecting their info" because they voluntarily send it to us and we're not specifically trying to block them. Perhaps we should.

We're not compliant with the letter of the law of GDPR (and according to some it doesn't apply to us at all due to the above), but we treat all user data seriously, regardless of where they come from. If that's not good enough, then people can stop visiting / subscribing / purchasing, or the EU can try to levy a fine and collect it. I'm not particularly worried about either scenario.