Some people love the free money, but it seems really bad for Bitcoin long-term.
It should not affect bitcoin long term at all. It will just cause short term price swings because the market must price the new coins.
It depends if there is a significant, permanent split. Let's say the Segwit2x fork causes a 50-50 split in the userbase. According to Moore's Law, that will cut the network value of each network down to merely 25% of the original network's value. This is because networks exponentially gain value as more people come online. They also exponentially lose value as more people leave the network (i.e. in a fork).
It's also possible that these forks are diluting potential investment into BTC (prospective investors putting money into other coins in addition to BTC).
Yes, you are a better writer than me, and I agree with your ideas regarding a ~50/50 split. Too many people are getting hooked on "magic money" without paying attention to history and reality.