Who is this 'we' anyway?

‘If you can’t write better than Tolstoy, we don’t need you’

For some reason, this was posted and defended as a quote to encourage writing.

For starters, no one should be told they have someone they have to compare themselves to.  They shouldn’t even tell themselves that.  Your work should be judged by your work. You choose who you trust to ask if it’s good, including yourself.  You do not have to be better than Tolstoy or anyone else.

Second, saying ‘we don’t need you’ is never encouraging. We readers and authors do need you.  You change how people see us and make us react to it.  If you’re bad, it makes us more determined to be good.  If you’re good, it makes us more proud.  If you’re awesome, it gives us something to read and be inspired by—but not to measure ourselves against.

If you say things like this, we don’t need you.