I might be one of those in the group you're mentioning here... after almost 2 years, I had to substantially power down because we were at risk of losing our home to property tax foreclosure and had to grab money from any and all sources we could find.
In my case, doesn't mean I don't still believe in Steem and intend to keep promoting it, going forward. In fact, I have probably been more active over the past three weeks than in a long time. And I certainly support efforts to help "build" both minnow and dolphins.
Perhaps you are right, everything is not as simple as it seems at first glance. People may have different reasons for doing it.
Who knows, maybe tomorrow I will also have to turn on the Power Down to pay utility bills... and I will find myself among the red fish in search of someone's support.