If it is so tangential, why did the author of the piece insist to mention it, and the editor decided to keep it? Looks to me like they wanted to start a convers

If it is so tangential, why did the author of the piece insist to mention it, and the editor decided to keep it? Looks to me like they wanted to start a conversation, and you are making the environment here not inclusive by shutting down unrepresented voices.