I think "describing it as if it were normal" only helps the people who support this arrangement because it gets normalized. That's where the accusation of conservatism came from, that and the way they tried to shut me down with insults.
Edit: given that there are likely to be a lot of people that agree with this argument unironically, doesn't it seem irresponsible to play some game where you pretend like you support it? Without ever coming out against it at the end?
Really, it's just naked approval, with any disapproval left as an exercise to be performed by the reader.
I find articles on the onion to be funny in some way. This was just naked approval of the status quo.