It's not necessarily about feeling defensive. It's about trying to stay grounded. I've lived in rentals before, but I don't now, so my experience may not match the experience of renting today. There's nothing wrong with asking others for input about your own place in society or how you can be better.

Not OP byt if you are seeing critique of what you do everywhere around you, it's hard to not be defensive, no matter how much you stick out of the average thingdoer. You simply start feeling as if it was aimed at you.