How Google Really Thinks About Linkspam
Even if you haven't, certainly you've encountered the frustration from putting a ton of effort into making something great and having someone shoot it down, crushing your spirits and dreams.
Until webmasters learn to walk a mile in Matt Cutts shoes, they will never understand why their spammy linkbuilding tactics are so egregious.
Simply Put, Google takes linkspam personally. They don't view it as a company trying to make a buck, they view as an inconsiderate jerk stomping through their lego masterpiece destroying what they invested so much of themselves into creating.
I don't blame google for link penalties or "breaking the internet" by influencing webmasters to request some good links to be removed..." (to be honest, if its a natural link, just no follow it, your readers, win, and the linked site wins. afterall, if your link isnt sending referral traffic, is there really any point for it to exist?)
Bottom line, you have to walk a mile in Google's shoes and realize they are fighting back against a monster that attacked their masterpiece. They didn't start the fight, they are just defending their life's investment and hard work.
That's just my two cents...
p.s. If I was Google and wanted to keep webmasters happy while keeping a clean index, I would take a page out of the Democracy model and build an arbitration process that is manned by fellow webmasters, users, and advertisers instead of by Google employees who might not be able to separate emotion and preconceived notions from the equation... just an idea...