Noted, but in what way was this not substantive? I'm expressing my opinion on a particular subpoint which is quite relevant to this discussion. If Barr was was not pushing for an artificial separation between the corporations and consumers, there wouldn't be any discussion to have, since taking encryption away from corporations is a non-starter.
Just as a disclaimer, I've read the guidelines and know them well.
If I take out the nationalistic slight ("This very American attitude"), the sarcastic rhetoric ("separating the noble and important from peasants or cattle"), the denunciatory venting ("utterly sickening") and megaphone language ("demand"), it's not clear to me what information is left. What is the comment really saying? Something about how businesses aren't people? To me it reads like an angry reaction to some shallowly triggering phrasing in the article. Angry reactivity is the opposite of thoughtful reflection, which is what we're hoping for here.
It's also off topic. Whimsical off-topic digressions can be interesting, but generic rhetorical ones are never interesting. Those discussions have been repeated countless times already, thus are predictable, thus are tedious, so we ask people to avoid them. The more generic a subject, the more shallow its discussion—and when it's angry as well, that's much worse. Angry plus shallow equals riler-upper, which is close to flamebait.
You're right, I was a bit angry when I read this. It's rather hard not to get angry given the topic. I agree I could have phrased it more tactically.
I understood your point and I'm not trying to prolong the discussion. However, I consider the implication that my comment was entirely devoid of a point a bit unfair, so I'll try to rephrase.
I think there is no good argument to be made for stripping away the privacy of citizens, with the implication that it's okay since they are somehow less important than businesses. The fact that this is now getting somewhat regularly proposed is scary and a danger to liberty. To me, Barr's statement reads as a long-winded way of saying "it's not too bad if we punch holes in your encryption because your systems weren't secure to begin with and you're also not that important since you are just consumers". My point was to call this out explicitly and try to invalidate it as an argument for breaking encryption.
From your comment I gather that you can, but that's not true of all readers, and in any case the use of fiery rhetoric to dress up a point like that is flamebait and so against the site guidelines.
Just as a disclaimer, I've read the guidelines and know them well.