Follower counts not being accurate is not the flex people make it out to be.

If nostr is to grow, most people want to be able to look through their own followers to find someone, or know how many people follow them.

They'll care less about follower count after they've already been using nostr for a little, but new people are going to care, because it's been programmed into them to see value in followers, and because it's human nature to be curious.