I've been following the conversation for a while, here's what I think:

Steemit is divided into three groups: those who benefit from upvoting themselves and their friends
Those who hate one above and strive to vote for good content only
Those who have no fucking idea about what is going on
Here's the problem
Those in the first group are very powerful (empowered by steempower) and those who benefit from them wouldn't say a word;
Those in the second group are few and get easily bullied or even silenced;
Those who have no idea stick with the first group hoping to get a cut of the bias likes for themselves

Solution
None in sight

I'm opened to corrections