Andrew,
What you been trying to do is introducing another culture through a small window of its many subculture. I can relate to this as I'm not originally of this country and what you have found is mostly misunderstanding. It's your audience who makes the difference. Something like this would have gone well with, for an example, a drift crowd.
Trying to fit a point of view toward an audience with little-to-no connection and narrow-mindedness is more often than not met with reactions you have experienced. I understand such subculture due to my "international" background. What is considered outrageous, weird, uncommon, disgusting, unfit, and ridi ulous in this country is a norm in others. I have learned over the years that not all information is welcomed. Most of the times, I don't offer a view unless a question was asked or brought up to my attention, even then, from time to time I decided to refrain from offering an opinion regardless the nature of the conversation.
Lesson learned ?
Moving on.