I'm a huge 5E fan and write professionally for 5E in many different ways. Miss me with all that "Oh why am I so prosecuted for my choices?" No one is prosecuting you.
Using popularity as a measurement of quality is ignoring the other factors that influence popularity. For sure, if 5E was a bad game, it wouldn't be as popular as it is. That does not mean it wouldn't be popular, and it cannot recursively to say that it is popular. Instead, you have to do your best as a human being to go over the rules and the game and come up with your own opinions based off actual logical processes.
You are clearly very intelligent. I do not mean this sarcastically. You, I'm sure, can come up with better reasons for something being good as opposed to "It's popular." In America, anti-LGBT opinions were POPULAR for a long time. Doesn't mean they were good. Likewise, thac0 was popular for a long time. Not good either. No matter how you cut it, there are countless PRODUCTS and GAMES out there that are POPULAR, and that popularity can never be used as a defining metric of quality.
It indeed is tiring having to argue with people that because 5E is popular doesn't mean it's the best thing of all time. I love 5E, but I sure don't like how people online have to get so dramatic over other people not liking 5E.