Thanks for your clarity! While not the ancestor commenter, you lay out a criticism of that point well.
I agree with you the point about tabs comes across as insensitive and lacking in empathy for people who like tabs.
Take for example: For all users, tabs are the wrong answer to something people want to do: organise their information, even if it's just a small current stack of interactions
Criticism of tabs is warranted and it's worth exploring other solutions, but to pretend that tabs have no use cases, thereby seeming to suggest that anyone who likes them is "wrong" or, even "dumb", is difficult to support. This exaggeration makes the points less effective.
And mocking people who might have my preference goes a long way to convincing me that he won't want to listen to why people like me don't want to use his version
Totally agree.
I thought the article made good points, but often stated them poorly, diluted them with unwarranted insensitivity and hyperbole, and was hard to read.