The interchange of

“Common statement which is generally true”

“A single out of context example where the above statement isn’t true, or a statement asserting it is not true no more than 5% of the time.”

is so common.

Once you start seeing this sort of thing, you see it everywhere on HN and it’s impossible to stop seeing.

It’s almost like a mind trap for developers, that once we see a general idea we immediately snap into disproof mode instead of thinking about ways to more charitably interpret the argument.

I hear you man. This is indeed a pet peeve of mine -- outlier counter-examples, as if any general statement is supposed to cover 100% of the population (and if it doesn't it's invalid), and not just "most" or "many".