I get this sentiment. "SEO" is basically an euphemism for spamming at this point. It's no longer just "Let's repeat this keyword 3 times" but "let's add 120 footer links and spam 35 blog comment sections per day"
I’d agree With you if those links were misleading, but they usually aren’t. They really do point to pages with “[something] in [location]”. And they really are helpful for search engines looking to give useful results for that type of query.
Sure.
Sure, people still do that. Doesn’t mean that’s representative for the SEO industry.
Don't blame SEO because capitalism necessitated that businesses use whatever means possible to get their product in front of your face.