SEO isn't what you think it is, yet you continue to paint all of SEO with your broad brush. Stop.
[1] (pdf) - https://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrus...
That's one of the first things I think about when I look at a site from a SEO perspective: can the bots easily digest this site.
White hat is not exploiting the rules of a game, it is following the rules. Proper SEO according to G is doing everything you can to make your site interact well with crawlers. That's akin to following directions when applying for a job, or following the rules when playing a sport. You can't be considered for the job if you don't apply properly, and you'll soon be disqualified if you ignore the rules of a sport. Same with search: if your site doesn't comply with a search engine's standards for crawling, you won't have the opportunity to be ranked fairly.