There are plenty of valid reasons to dislike D&D as a game or to avoid Wizards of the Coast as a company. I haven't played D&D in over a year at this point. And yet, D&D seems to have a special quality (its popularity, most likely) that makes some people go insane. It makes them lie, to others and to themselves.
For example, have you noticed that the British guys who complain the loudest about WotC's "corporate stranglehold" all seem to be drowning in Games Workshop plastic miniatures? Look inward.
As another example, it's funny how some indie rpg people are constantly banging the "D&D is crowding out all other games" drum when there are demonstrably more indie games now than in any other point in the hobby and it's never been easier to distribute and/or get paid for your niche indie game.
D&D isn't the reason your game isn't a bestseller; it's just that you don't have a bestseller on your hands. The milquetoast fantasy juggernaut isn't keeping your ten-page game about coconut farmers trying to resolve family conflict from widespread success--most people just aren't going to be particularly interested in that premise.
There's also irony to be found in the "not all games should be based on D&D's mechanics" perspective, even though it's one I largely agree with, because a lot of the people who hold that view seem to have no problem with everything being either Powered by the Apocalypse or Forged in the Dark based. (It used to be Fate that filled that role, but no one cares about Fate anymore.) On the trad side of things, the Year Zero Engine seems to currently occupy a similar "this system could and should do everything" space.
I have a theory: the most unhinged D&D hate actually funnels people to D&D because regular gamers see that stuff and want to go over to where people seem more normal and less "I'm frothing mad about a game I don't even play."
Touching grass is always an option, of course.
