No one is forcing anyone to use it, so use it or ignore it.
That's a little bit naive to say in todays' IT landscape. Everyone who wishes to keep their privacy and personal safety - which quite frankly should be everyone - only has the option to run some Linux or BSD for their personal computing.
It will always need more effort on the part of the user to get going with it
That's not true, thanks to hardware vendors as well as lots and lots of work of many people. The culture is still a problem though, as it effectively gatekeeps certain settings like Bootloader ("no normal user should ever have to change those") or Service Management ("No normal user is supposed to touch those anyway") behind an enormous skill level most people should not have to reach instead of a GUI people can navigate and understand. Not to mention that many seriously treat CLI commands as universal, something that repeatedly breaks systems of users who're then rightfully pissed off.
there is no end game with Linux - no inherent need to be used and loved by everyone.
Again, if there were accessible alternatives that respect and protect the user that would be true, however there are not. The "endgame" (bad word for it) should be to finally reach accessibility-parity with Windows so everyone can actually use it.
I get what you want to say, but the circumstances we're in don't support your opinion on these things. Arguing like this perpetuates the more often than not rather unwelcoming (as in elitist) nature in the community.