It’s systemd or bust because it’s so much better than any other init system.
Also, your post glosses over the biggest issues people have with systemd. The lead developer was a complete fucking asshole and rubbed people the wrong way. Imo, that’s where most of the hate stems. The guy was a tool and the initial backlash spiraled from there.
But I guess being a jerk and being a sea-changing dev go hand-in-hand. Eg stallman, Torvalds, etc
Also, my favorite thing about the gnu diehards complaining that systemd does too much and doesn’t follow the unix principals… Emacs enters the chat. It also enters the email, text editor, ide, etc.