Yeah it couldn't possibly be because people are actually mad, it all has to be performative outrage, right? Everything is fine, nothing to see here.
Here's the deal. No matter what, no matter where, more competition is better for the consumer than less competition, in every possible case, zero exceptions. Fender's bullshit is going to mean less competition in the market in a large part of the guitar playing world, which means Fender will be more free to be lazy with their own ideas (if that's even possible these days) and charge way more for the same guitars because where else are people gonna go? People are rightfully mad/disappointed about that.
This can't-see-five-minutes-in-front-of-your-own-face "well it doesn't impact me right this minute because I'm in America so it doesn't matter" sentiment just doesn't work. What if there's some guitar company in Europe that has some great innovation tech that gets pushed out of the market because they happen to not be great at guitar body design so they use the strat body, and that innovation never gets caught and adopted by the big guys? And the butterfly effect is just one of the things we're worried about here. What if you're in Europe and you like the Telecaster body shape but you can't buy a decent telecaster with a humbucker in the bridge because Fender is too goddamn lazy / ignorant / incompetent to make one, so you never get inspired to start that band that gets huge and inspires everybody in America?
It is so unbelievably short sighted to think it's no big deal because this is happening in a place people in America can't physically see right this second. Besides, aren't you guys mostly conservative? Since when have conservatives been against free market competition and for sucking any single company's dick? That's like the entire conservative ballgame. Small government, as little oversight as possible, right? That means you should be against Fender weaponizing the government against other companies that can and will make a better product.
Basically, people are actually pissed because it matters and it will make the guitar playing world worse, even if you can't see it.
