Again, you cannot assume that they chose to call it unfair simply as a self-defense mechanism. Imagine someone accused your family of being murderers, then said the only reason you would be upset by that is if you really did have murderous proclivities and felt self-conscious about it.
And frankly, even if that was their entire motivation for calling it unfair in the first place, it does not mean they are wrong.
Their claim is inherently irrelevant and reactionary. They were reactionary because they felt called out.
Again, you cannot assume that they chose to call it unfair simply as a self-defense mechanism. Imagine someone accused your family of being murderers, then said the only reason you would be upset by that is if you really did have murderous proclivities and felt self-conscious about it.
And frankly, even if that was their entire motivation for calling it unfair in the first place, it does not mean they are wrong.