You're responding to a point he isn't making. He's not claiming that one's circumstances don't contribute to one's success; obviously, we're all "privileged" to be living in the first world in the 21st century.

You took this opportunity to dismiss his personal experiences, and bizarrely, you implied that one's insight regarding a situation is entirely unwelcome without having personally experienced that exact same situation. If that's the case, take your own advice and leave him alone.

You're poisoning this discussion. Just stop.