> Do you expect people to pretend the trend isn't happening in order to comfort you?

This is a strawman. The parent was saying that in order to have an effect and convince people, you shouldnt alienate them. You can do this without lying or ignoring things that are happening. In fact, the people you're most likely able to convince are people in the middle and by alienating them you're actually causing the trend that you're denouncing.

> What does it say about your own values that they are so loosely held that you'd sacrifice them out of contempt like this?

This is just a straight ad hominem. I thought we were supposed to be above these sorts of things on hn.