Sounds like you are going to be a lot of fun on the forums.
I hope so. I want the opportunity to learn the culture of the ham community, and importantly, I understand my history of cannon ball jumping into the fray, and I understand why some will have objections of how I do that. That's me.
This is not the public pool, so you are welcome to cannon ball all you want. You will not be the first, and you will not be the last.
You will find that the ham community is very diverse. There are those that like the social aspect and belong to clubs. Within that group you will find a lot of teachers who's intent is to help new/old hams learn and understand. Although, sometimes learning and understanding doesn't happen at the same time. There can be years between the two.
Then there are those who are not especially social. Like myself. I have been working with radios for a long time, but have never wanted to be in a club. I prefer working by myself. I worked for the same company for 35 years. Most of that time, I was alone in a temperature controlled lab, with no windows, cipher locks on the door, breathing carefully filtered air. Sometimes I wouldn't see another person for weeks. I loved it, but not everyone would thrive in that setting. Outside of the lab, I like working CW, some digital modes, designing, building and other aspects of Amateur Radio.
And, of course, you are welcome to choose the parts of Amateur Radio you like.
The bottom line here is that there will be those who see themselves as guardians and want to police interactions based upon their sanctimonious notions of what's kosher.
Aren't you getting ahead of yourself a little bit? Your new to the hobby and you already think that everyone is against you and wants things their way. If your looking for a fight, your probably in the wrong place. For that you need to go to the Audio or Photography groups.
I question the licensing process because of this, but I desire the understanding of regular folk who ride the wave instead of trying to stop it. For me to get there I understand there are going to be issues of my intent and ignore the character.
You can question the licensing process all you want. The FCC has a email address and you are welcome to keep them up on your thoughts and ideas. But the process is not going to change any time soon. I was first licensed in 1965. At the time the licensing process was very different. The actual test question were not known, and your study material only gave you a vague idea of what was on the test. The VE (Volunteer Examiner) system did not exist, so a prospective ham had to travel to a FCC testing station. I'm pretty sure the FCC testing station was always covered in snow, and was up hill both ways. There were more license classes, frequency allocations were different, and proficiency in Morse Code was a requirement.
But over the years, things have changed. Sometimes for the good, some times not. But it does indicate that the system is changeable.
When I read some of the questions in the exam pool, coupled with watching YouTube to see some just memorize 35 answers and dont care of the process, I find that as degrading the intent of the license. That is NOT me.
Personally, I don't watch ham made videos. While I applaud their use of the media, hams can make some of the most boring videos I have ever seen. But that is just me. Others seem to like them.
You can approach the required tests any way you like. The exam pool has been available to the public for a very long time. IIRC some time in the early 80s the question pool was released to the public. The exact date is unimportant now. However, if someone chooses to memorize the test questions, they can. Once they have their license and are on the air, the issue of how they obtained it is mute. Or, they can actually learn the material and grow. Either way, they wind up with a license.
Like I said before, the real learning does not happen, until you actually pass the test and get the license. That's when you learn to love it or leave it.