Generic ideological disputes like this subthread already are off-topic for HN because they're predictable, tedious, and usually turn nasty. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...

I would say what crosses the line into flamewar is when it's combined with denunciatory language. What you posted wasn't nearly as bad as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28350724, but "I'm soundly rejecting this framing; in fact, I find it utterly revolting and dehumanizing" definitely counts, and in any case it takes two to tango.

The proper thing for this entire subthread would have been to flag it at the root (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28350724 - yes I know that was posted by someone else) and move on.