That line was somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I wouldn't go that far over the top in a real discussion, although I might throw in a bit of anti-*ist rhetoric as an expected shibboleth.

That being said, these people aren't stupid. They don't generally have the same priorities or epistemology that we do, and they're very political, but that's true of a lot of people outside the gates of our incestuous little nerd-ghetto. Winning, in the real world, implies dealing with these people, and that's likely to go a lot better if we understand them.

Does that mean we should go out and pick fights with mainstream social justice advocates? No, of course not. But putting ourselves in their shoes every now and then can't hurt.