I have conquered [and seen others close to me] FOMO by stubbornly writing things off, and I suspect others have done the same thing: it's calorically inexpensive and cognitively frictionless. No one can reasonably assess everything that comes their way.

I am not saying that that's the reason with the writer, but it's surely the reason in some people, precisely because it's easy. And easier still to click upvote on a take that reinforces that stubbornness. It's this latter group whose motives are being questioned, as per the GP who asked why these takes get upvoted. I wasn't actually questioning the motive of the writer of the article, hence why I didn't engage in the arguments in the first place.

And of course you have the corollary of true believers who will support anything positive of X-thing-they-have-adopted.

It's seems to be only these two dichotomies we see, rarely balanced takes. And that's the real problem.