Upvoting content that provides zero value to the blockchain is indeed considered abuse.
Upvotes are meant to reward users who CONTRIBUTE to the community, usually by posting original high quality content. These are the norms on Steem. If you don't contribute any value, but only extract it, community members may try to prevent said value extraction.
And, yes. We would do exceptionally better if only high quality content would earn money here. Sadly people like you are preventing that. So I guess the job of abuser fighters is far from finished, if even "activists" don't understand that they're hurting the platform.