Call for a moratorium

I’m getting really tired of people concluding, based on what they take to be overly vehement reactions to their blog posts or other writings, that they “must’ve hit a nerve.” The assumption here is that the person is just putting forth some ideas and a disproportionately negative reaction can only be explained by recourse to psychological factors (such as intellectual insecurity that leads to over-defensiveness when one’s precious worldview is questioned). The myriad other factors that could’ve produced the negative reaction — perhaps blog post in question is simply wrong, or presents a stupid idea as though it’s a radical breakthrough, or puts forth a tired cliche as though it’s brand new, etc., etc. — are never given serious consideration. Overall, then, this classic all-purpose response is an especially smug and obnoxious way of begging the question.