Maybe the author wanted to hide the fact that he paid for every vote buying service that exists on this platform to bring this piece of content into a trending position. Also the author used (pardon abused) the tag #steemfest and put the word 'minnow support' in the headline to improve visibility. This author pratices everythig but no minnow support. 
The tag abuse might be even an interesting issue for @steemcleaners.

Actually, this is quite funny. Our media agency has noticed that there is an inverse relationship between the number of bot comments and the number of human comments. The more bot comments there are, the less likely people seem to want to comment. Since it is the people we want to get in touch with, to create a relationship with the audience here before our Beta-launch in December, we wanted to encourage commenters as much as possible. We think it's important to create these relationships now, to show how authentic we are, as a side-effect of flipping the switch of our advertising potential is a significant adoption of Steemit by a wider audience. 

I find it really interesting that this causes such an emotional reaction in people, which is self-evident by the changes in their written diction when compared to other comments they make. I have to question why that is. What specifically perturbs you about any of the concerns you bring up? 

Personally, I feel the majority of people acting negatively are doing so unconsciously: that drama has been stirred up and everyone wants to jump on board and participate in the bashing. It is the thanatos of human nature that desires to call someone a junkie and willingly jumps on such an opportunity that seems favorable without social ramifications of doing so. Because it doesn't make sense that someone who aligns with esoteric philosophy to stand opposed to an organization that is actively promoting esoteric principles in alignment with highest collective good. Logically, in the big picture, it seems most likely that your concerns are arising from a short-sighted position that is not taking into consideration all the potential implications of the Earth Nation actions. Obviously, it's not an us vs them conflict, but to oppose us is to oppose an organization which actively strives to make the world a better place, and has a history of being transparent in how it is achieving this in a manner that grows the site and spreads the wealth with our steemit guild.

 In my opinion, that's where real ignorance lies.

Well said mate.