I don't entirely buy into some of that philosophy, but to me Apple is different here for one reason: every KNOWS they act like this. It's not like this is some out of the blue thing. I don't have much respect for someone purposely running into a wall and then loudly complaining about it in public.
The first few times some of this stuff happened in the App Store or it was an unwritten rule that was 'violated' yelling was TOTALLY fair.
But violating an obvious and published rule that has gotten numerous others kicked out of the store? Why are you complaining? You knew what would happen.
I find it odd that people develop the kind of things that Apple is very likely to dislike and then act surprised when Apple acts totally in character.
I'm not arguing what Apple did is good/ok/legal/fun, but it was totally predictable. Even if the app wasn't submitted.