Cassius have you read Anti-Seneca? I found this mention of "fair minded" funny because, at the end of anti-Seneca, La Mettrie serves the same irony and mockery in reverse, praising him while he mocks and insults him like Seneca did with the Epicureans. And La Mettrie is a very eloquent and refined orator / writer, which makes him seem even more like a smart-ass.
Another thing I loved about Anti-Seneca is his explanation of how "noble" reason is held in such high esteem, when all it does is come to the aid of the passions to rationalize and justify them when people follow their passions anyway instead of their reason, how the Stoic designation of man as a "rational animal" serves to add to this air or mask or nobility and this artificial separation of humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. The truth is we are not so rational. I've never seen this explained so eloquently as in La Mettrie.
It adds another layer of perspective to the tension between the Epicureans and Reason, and to why the Epicureans appear within the lineage of the laughing philosophers, because this way of seeing Reason makes us very cynical about how full of shit many people are, particularly virtue proponents. In contrast to this, La Mettrie sees the Epicurean approach as more natural and honest, more authentic.