The conquistadors and colonists were generally adventurers from impoverished regions of their home countries, engaged in extremely arduous military and quasi-mi

The conquistadors and colonists were generally adventurers from impoverished regions of their home countries, engaged in extremely arduous military and quasi-military expeditions thousands of miles from home, so using them as a counter-example is a little odd; like using American soldiers stationed in a forward operating post in Afghanistan to judge the culture of hygiene in America. I agree that the Internet has "amplified a certain contrarian tendency that goes too far", but I think that tendency is more evident in top-rated Hacker News comments than in the work of professional historians like the author of the article.