A. "Ah, I've brought up a politically charged tangent and people are downvoting to keep the discussion on topic"

B. "I'm a martyr to the HN hivemind!"

Yeah, definitely the second one.

This silly algorithm for calculating damages is irrelevant to this claim of theft,

is not the same as saying:

All claims of theft from everyone who uses this silly algorithm for calculating damages are equally true or untrue.

Apologize for the failure in reasoning and the passive-aggressiveness instead.