It's called self-defense. This isn't third grade, you can't claim that you're rubber and I'm glue. You attacked me, I retaliated. Hurr durr, not that complicated. Come back with a better insult or a better argument, because it's currently on the same tier as all your other ones.
In terms of actual site power. Yes. In terms of discussion. Moderator Event Staff Journo and "Staff" had the same discussion abilities. Staff were technically just there to delegate jobs to make stuff more organized.