"Am I sure that Dudes 1 & 2 aren’t sincere & just awkward? Yes I am, because I’ve seen it too many times (and perpetrated it myself in younger years)."<p>This doesn't really say much, because awkward people might be common in the author's field (his bio says it's "programming", which definitely has a high number of socially awkward people.<p>I'm sure the article is well-intentioned, but it's basically arguing that you can ignore people based on their 'ranking' on a scale of 'structural power'. He accuses people of making a "badly disguised power play", when the tweet at the very start describes someone making an overt power play. Clearly the "random dude" has no power over anyone in this scenario, and so the situation is tantamount to a verbal put-down by someone in a position of power. The author then tries to justify it using a completely inappropriate social theory.<p>This article left a sour taste in my mouth. Of course, nobody owes you anything, but you can't tell me that a making a verbal put-down which shows blunt disrespect for another person is a good thing because someone who looks like them did something bad to someone who looks like you.