I don't think they have much to gain by advocating for this kind of stuff so publicly. They're already incredibly well known for Basecamp, Ruby on Rails, and various other things. That's why I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt that they've demonstrated they deserve (in my view).

But who knows, maybe they are indeed psychopathic attention seekers like you suggest. It's impossible for us to prove it one way or another, so I largely find that an irrelevant detail. I generally agree with the general spirit of what they're advocating for even if sometimes they don't quite hit the mark.