Then the hard fork would be a non-event and NOTHING bad would happen from it.
lol, a hard fork being a "non-event"..
sounds like a true acaderpic.

Yes, "hard forks are terrible things" is part of the FUD that Blockstream created.
Maybe because they invented the concept of "soft fork", namely a change in the protocol that is deployed by the devs without the community being told about it; and that fits better with the time-honored hacker's approach to software project management.
They didn't. Gavin did.