I'm sorry to say it, but that framing actually makes me see more merit in the comment you're responding to, when I didn't much before. I'm of the opinion that people do deliberately lie to themselves, quite regularly. To me, it's a fundamental part of cognitive dissonance. Whether it applies here, I don't know, but now I have to consider it.

:-) Sure, I agree. We don't know. The comment I was replying to snarkily and passively-aggressively (said it without saying it) assumed he knew for sure (I won't say 'pretended to know'). But it was ironically more certainly what they were accusing the other of, presenting opinion as fact, than what the other was doing, as another commenter already noted.

Also it was hostile in tone. If I, for example, thought you were being too silly, compare writing "I think you're being too silly" with writing "I really hate when people are too silly." It begs the question, and in a hostile way. He wasn't talking to the person but snidely about them.

Yeah, I definitely get what you mean. I try to see if there's merit in what people say, even on occasions where they forgot their manners at home (as I've done plenty), but in this case, they didn't bother to justify anything here. It makes me think there wasn't really much thought behind it past the craving to be rude.

Or, I just don't like when people summarily dismiss and deride things that don't personally appeal to them, even when others find value in it. I think it's hard to justify calling my direct response passive, regardless of how it was phrased, but if it makes you all feel better to defend the bullies go right on ahead.