My favorite part though may have been how he phrased it.
Unfortunately, Twitter only allows 140 characters, so it was impossible to reply how I really wanted to. Like, say to him that I took it as a big honor that someone who describes himself on his homepage as a follower of Sarah Palin and therefore clearly knows so much about spreading ignorance would single out my work. I also wanted to ask him how he knew that a full half of my readers were alienated by criticism of Ms. Palin? Personally, I would have put the number far lower, but he apparently has different polling data. In addition, I wanted to explain that without knowing his standards for alienating others, it wasn't possible for me to be insulted by a total stranger. I considered, too, about replying that my job wasn't "devoted" to spreading ignorance but that it was just a lucky byproduct -- but I had the sense he might take that the wrong way. Also, I thought about simply just answering his question, and saying that, no, I didn't see my job as spreading ignorance, and that I was happy to help clear that up for him.
I also decided to not say that, given how he also described himself as a Green Bay Packers fan, I wasn't surprised at him being a follower of Sarah Palin and bewildered by the world. But being a Packers fan, I figured he wouldn't get it, and thought it best to just stick with politics.
I intentionally did leave out that the correct spelling is "you're," since as someone who often makes typos, I felt that unfair. Besides, with this being Twitter, he might have just been saving one character.
So, in the end, I just went with, gee, why would he possibly think I wouldn't be insulted by being accused of spreading ignorance and alienating half my readers?
Not to my shock, he didn't get the sarcasm, and instead actually answered my question.
Instead, I chose to be thoughtful and just go with straightforward, and explained that he had missed the point of my previous note, saying "No, what I meant was that after you intentionally tried to insult me, why would you think I shouldn't be insulted by that?"
Alas, he never answered.
Yet I still feel honored.