Humans, when their beliefs are attacked, get defensive by default. Knowing this, a wise speaker or author will avoid making offensive constructions when possible not because he or she is attempting to bowlderize his own ideas, but because he thinks the ideas are themselves important enough to attempt to convey in a manner that is most likely to find an audience.

You're absolutely right, and the idea was a reverse psychology of sorts - to use the reader's own defensive reactions against him. It worked about half the time.

I liken it to the reason most people don't like metal or dubstep, and that's because most people's ears aren't keen on atonal...noise (i.e. distortion, machine sounds, etc.) I was trying to write really good shock metal here, and for its particular genre - I was trying to be the Marilyn Manson of neopagan authors - it was good.

But now I know how to make music that's pleasing to the ear, and I'm interested in the opinion of my peers to see just how close to the mark I was with the heart of the matter, despite the methods I chose to use at the time.

Thank you for your perspective. I value your criticism.