> stopping every few words to make sure nobody's getting their feelings hurt is a cost with very little benefit

Fortunately, nobody is saying to stop every few words to confirm the consent of your interlocutor, so that's just a stupid fucking straw man, isn't it?

> other than airy and nebulous principles like "inclusivity."

Ah, I see. You're one of those people on a perpetual crusade against "political correctness" (funnily enough, an airy and nebulous principle!)

> If you're in a field where Things Have To Get Done

Man I work in academia, so I assure you I've met a million guys of your type. Guys who are oh-so smart and oh-so intelligent (as per their own assessment of course) and have a planet-sized ego, who think they are so above the riffraff and their attention is oh-so important that they don't even owe their colleagues the courtesy of basic manners.

Nope, sorry, you're not so special that you can't say "I think that's a bad idea [because X]" instead of "That's stupid [because of X]".

Excuse me the brashness of my post, but hey, I'm trying to correspond to your desired level of discussion :)