The GP definitely shouldn't have included that provocation. But your comment did something worse: you singled out the provocation and reacted purely to that. That's blowing on the flames, and users correctly flagged it.
What we want HN users to do is leave provocations where they find them, and respond/build on the most interesting things in a comment/article/topic instead. We even promoted this to the official guidelines recently (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html):
Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article and rush to the thread to complain about it. Find something interesting to comment about instead.
>you singled out the provocation and reacted purely to that.
Well I was actually trying to be constructive "it sounds like you might have some meaningful insight" but fair enough.
Some feedback: The problem with reacting to the most "interesting" part is that the rest of the comment is tainted by the obvious bias (and lack of maturity) presented. The whole thing comes off as bad faith by the commenter so engaging such a person thoughtfully feels like encouraging the behaviour.
Having said that, I realize the intent of the rule is to prevent escalation or amplification of such distractions. Next time I will flag and move on.
Thanks for the heads up and all you do for this community. Happy Holidays.
Edit: Flagged for pointing out that childish snark (a clear violation of HN guidelines) ruined an otherwise good comment? Ok, then.