Jon, I can sympathize greatly with you and the predicament in which you find yourself. Excoriation, especially in a public forum, is never pleasant.

If I might offer a suggestion . . .

Obviously, your writing connects with people; the numbers bear that out. But today lauding and writing from a place of “privilege” can easily be perceived as arrogant, pretentious, or off-putting. Perhaps if you wrote from a place of humility instead of privilege, you’ll find an unknown level depth in yourself and your writing. Don’t worry about challenging your audience. Challenge yourself. Your readers are smart. They’ll notice the change in your writing and challenge themselves to keep up with you.

But then again, hey, what do I know?

Best of luck!