I don't think he took it at all personally. He's not saying you cannot contribute to the discussion either, but your original post did not do anything but echo contributions from other similarly uninformed individuals ("outsiders" perhaps, as you put it). If you do not see the issue, or have experience of it yourself on which to base your comments, then you're not in the position to refer to others' input as "sweeping statements" which cannot be taken seriously.
This issue has been around a long time, the debate is not just an argument for argument's sake, most of us are not in the habit of posting nonsense just to perpetuate a nonsense thread. If people here say it's an issue, it is.