The tether market on Poloniex is tiny. Similarly if you want to buy on Bitfinex you're not going to already have Tether, you have to send real dollars. If you want to cash out you're certainly not going to want Tether either. You cash out with real dollars. Tether is not much use for anything other than parking your money for a while.

It's a drag but it certainly isn't lording over the market. Previous to this strife how many times have you heard it mentioned here?