Not an expert by any means: but I do agree with your premise. Because block size is so limited the polluter has to pay a premium to issue the ordinal. But I really just think this is market dynamics playing out. Most bitcoiners didn't care about NFTs to begin with so why would they go after ordinals? In that regard I think there's a limited market for ordinals which is why it kind of fizzled so far. But yes in comparison to fiat... If you want to do a fluff project in fiat all you have to do is lobby the government and they'll print it for you. Or as I heard it somewhere: "if you want a project to move forward and it's going to grant you $300 million, but cost the taxpayers $1 each... Well you have $300 million of incentive to get that project pushed forward. If you spend $1 million to get the $300 million grant then it was worth it. It's hard for the taxpayer to fight it when they only have to give up $1 each." Whereas like you said, if you want to shill ordinals you've got to pay the protocol just like everyone else.

I hope this made sense