1. If it hurts, don't do it.
2. Listen to your body.
3. You can not 'win' yoga.
4. If you have an injury, use a modified pose.
5. It's your practice, do it your way, at your own pace.
6. Rest if you feel like it.
7. Don't do everything everyone else does.
etc
I've injured myself once so far. Most other people I know who practice regularly have also hurt themselves doing asanas, usually improperly. But the same goes for anyone who does a challenging physical activity, which yoga can definitely be if you push yourself or aren't mindful of your body. At the end of the day, there is no perfect way to prevent injury as all our bodies are different.So unless everyone did the senior-citizen-modified poses there's always going to be risk of injury. Assuming a person could just jump into a crazy backbend like Vrschikasana without injury would be crazy... I don't know who you think isn't acknowledging this as every yoga instructor has probably also hurt themselves at one point or another.
The people who advocate yoga as healing or beneficial are not incorrect. But they're also not explaining to you everything about yoga in one paragraph. People who read one or two sentences and stop learning are dooming themselves from ignorance.
Much like people who work out without a personal trainer, people who do yoga without an experienced teacher (not just practitioner) are going to be at a significant disadvantage. Perhaps the real issue is that most people don't acknowledge that yoga is complex and can't be minimized or simplified.