Because it's a bad faith argument, quite deliberately so.

Why? Because it's an effort to distract from an issue with butwhataboutism. It's a really common tactic to derail an argument. Politicians use it all the time. Consider Chuck Schumer's opposition to removing a bizarrely low tax rate (15%) for hedge fund managers, called the carried interest tax credit [1]:

> But in his conversations with Wall Street executives about the tax proposals, Mr. Schumer said, he has told them that he would oppose a tax increase as long as it did not also apply to other industries, like energy and real estate.

If Bitcoin energy wastage is bad (which is my argument) then it's bad even if there are other bad things.

[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/washington/30schumer.html

Is it bad faith? I mean, you yourself used a comparison. Even as an order of magnitude, I'd like to see some numbers. Somebody talking about numbers and alternatives should at the very least not be silenced.