You say it’s overstating it by leagues and then proceed to go on a bit of an extended rant about your dislike for the phrase and those who use it, lol. And honestly, your rant itself practically devolves into much the same incoherence you attribute to the phrase. I’ve given at least three examples of its usage, made arguments here rather than subjective assertions about inside jokes and woke societies, and sufficiently explained the context and why it matters.

You’re free to disagree, of course. I appreciate that we’ve been able to have the exchange we’re having, but some of your responses are pretty flippant ones in their own right, I would argue. It’s not exactly engaging with the other side to give quite a disproportionate level of consideration to one side of the argument. That is often one tell-tale sign of confirmation bias, I’d say, along with allegations of pretentiousness or certain uses of buzzwords like “woke.” Didn’t you say yourself in the very first comment that those who use these kinds of du jour buzzwords should step out the argument until they can do better? That rationale cuts both ways.

The last thing I’ll say on this is that we should be careful when we talk about taking the “high road” at the same time we condemn a perceived attitude of intellectual superiority in others. What counts as taking the high road can be pretty nebulous and relative, too, even if there are some things on it that most of us might agree about in a very broad sense. But when it comes to deciding what’s appropriate for someone else to do when they’re faced with a heckler, a troll, or someone clearly and repeatedly showing them they don’t want a dialogue — my argument would be that you are never in as good a position to know what’s appropriate in those circumstances as the person who is actually in them.

Someone who really takes the high road, in my opinion, is someone who can recognize their limitations in this respect as part of holding a higher standard for themselves. The person who does not do this, and feels it necessary to hold others to his or her standard without real consideration of their own situation, is someone that may actually be exhibiting an attitude of moral superiority when they criticize other people for failing to take the “high road.”