Not so silly if they are sure they'll crush the opposition. If they are convinced the boycotts are powerless, then the sooner they demonstrate it, the better.
Reddit's main asset is its community, so it is odd to cast the community as their opposition.
Looks like they either don't see the community as an asset, or don't see the protestors as part of the community. In either case, they do not think the opinion of the people protesting matters enough to change anything.