The point being that there are limited cases where it is justifiable. For example, a VM or language interop would likely be justified. Those types of cases mean the absolute number of call sites should be small though. In other words, the problem is somewhat self-limiting. Probably, in appropriate use, the function would be called extensively, but likely not from many sites.
> Apart from the fact that earning six figures still isn't the norm for most Objective-C developers.
I have no horse in this race.. I don't work in the industry for years.
This was also a somewhat tongue-in-cheek remark that I think you are reading too deeply into. The real point is, software engineers are generally paid well relative to median incomes and have a cushy job. On the scale of pain, this doesn't seem like a big deal - not even a Python 2 to 3 transition.
BLS average salary for software engineers is $103k, not including bonuses and stock, etc. I would think the average engineer that would justifiably use msg send directly is being paid greater than the BLS average - which includes all the enterprise LOB app slaves that don't do incredibly well.