because even if they don't want to be seen that way, the behavior of many of them suggests it (albeit subtly)
I think there are different things going on here:
1). Whales are in the same position so they naturally do similar things. Like we literally have the same interests in terms of our stake and wanting it to be valuable. Also, if HIVE price goes down, I will buy more when that happens not sell today to get ahead of it. Most users who think HIVE will go down next year are going to try to front run it and sell today or just not buy at all. Whales are financially incentivized not to act this way and will keep consolidating until the price goes up.
If HIVE price goes down I will buy more so I can get my average cost per HIVE down so when we do go up I have more gains.
2). When power distribution is consolidated it is easier for whales to coordinate without even talking. Like there could be coordination without a Cabal which is a mind F for average users who do not appreciate that.
Point 2 is very common in real life. Anytime a small group of companies control 1 resource, these companies will keep the price of that resource high and not compete based on price. Naturally no one wants to get in a price war. But competition provides value which is why governments try to force companies to break into smaller companies sometimes.
*Note - My biggest issue with people being upset that Whales are so powerful on HIVE is, there are many accounts that sold their stake, but if they did not they would be a whale today. There are also whales who became whales this way and it makes users who sold their stake mad these whales get such good upvotes. Well, these whales who got their stake through the reward pool are some of the best stakeholders imo and if they do dump their stake a lot of those upvotes will stop and they may even get downvoted 😅