Their value to PMC society is not in being smart or insightful, it is to either provide a thing which can be agreed upon in order to demonstrate one’s moral rectitude or it is to provide a thing which can be disagreed with in order to demonstrate the deep and thoughtful nature of the reader.

Considering some of the defense that the linked article got, yeah, I definitely see the "enjoying this implied highbrow journey makes you part of the elect intellectual elite, and if you don't like the delivery, you're an ignorant peasant" gatekeeping implied with the article's intended audience.

To put it another way, it seems like the intended audience is supposed to wave around the discourse the way a MCU consumer is supposed to have a wall of appropriate Funko Pops behind their selfies.