Given that you just replied with "This might be the funniest comment I've ever read here." and then deleted your comment, let me be more precise:

The line

> Maybe we should rethink that rhetoric just a bit?

exists purely to manipulate others. There's no logic, no reason, no intellect - just base degradation of others through condescension and attempts at imputing shame. Comments like this are utterly inappropriate for HN, as a casual reading of the linked HN guidelines would show.

Yeah, I found your comment unreasonable and made a snarky reply, but then decided that didn't really contribute anything so deleted it.

I do not in any way agree my line above is somehow emotional manipulation. I think you're being overly defensive.

Your disagreement doesn't matter - the fact is that that part of the comment was written solely to manipulate people. Nobody ever says things like "Maybe we should rethink that rhetoric just a bit?" unless they're intending to shame and guilt others. There's no informational content or facts or logic or anything remotely valuable in that statement. Its sole purpose is to tweak people's emotions, nothing more.