"This is indeed a signal of consensus that the content is value-adding because the one thing that all stakeholders have in common is wanting their stake to increase in value."

No it isn't. I am a stakeholder, and note that I don't care if my stake increases in value. I also note that disregarding rhetoric enables me to observe that HF21 appears deliberately designed to decrease the value of Steem, and thus to reduce the value of all stakes. It is designed to increase the concentration of Steem in the wallets that hold the most of it, and this directly decreases the value of it.

"...there are plenty of rewards paid out with NO whale votes."

Not anymore.

Previously, whales extracted ~90% of rewards through the magic of stake weighting. That remaining ~10% was not 'plenty'. Under the current rules that will drop below ~5%. It is difficult to conceive of a mechanism that will more discourage adoption and retention of Steem social media. However, I am sure better minds than mine are hard at work doing so.