The existentialism is maybe a little dramatic, but it's definitely a debatable point in my view.

This isn't a cut and dried technical problem with a single solution. There is an ideological/philosophical component too.

Ultimately, my position is basically: I don't like spam, Knots and OCEAN help me to personally reject the spam, so I like those things and enthusiastically adopt them myself. I encourage others to do so also, but it's every individual's choice.

Whether this specific technical point is existential or not is, again, debatable. But I find it seriously problematic that Core doesn't consider any position other than the one they've decided is right. By their decree (we have another word for that, fiat), they are deciding that nodes upgrading to V30 will accept spam without possibility for recourse. I find that behavior to be a legitimate threat.