Well said. I'm an American in China, and I find that Chinese people who hate me for crazy reasons are pure gold for improving relations between our two societies, because onlookers get to compare what is being said with how I'm acting, and can see for themselves that the two don't match up.

If the author had been cool about it, he might have succeeded in changing their minds. It seems impossible that shaming and scolding and scaring them could be as effective.