As far as I know this was not a part of the original code. It was added.
Correct, but you could always embed arbitrary data. It's just easier now with tapscript.
It's just using the loophole that the Core team put in to give the Lightning Network a leg up. I wish people had the same energy for Ordinals that they have for Lightning, both are equally dumb.
What's the loophole for the lightning network? And how come it's equally dumb? It allows a few people transact small amounts instantly and with near zero cost. What's the problem?
I think they do serve a good purpose. They show the developer bias and that Bitcoin is being run by a team of people who want to control what you use it for, while expecting other developers not to use the same tools to build that they do. This hypocrisy has gone to extreme levels. I see devs on social media bashing people for shilling shitcoins and then in their next post they're shilling liquid tokens or some other nonsense.
How can the Bitcoin Core team control how I use it for?