Ripple is not centralized.

An inaccurate attack campaign was waged against Ripple when it emerged, leading to a great deal of misunderstanding. As interest in cryptocurrency grows, more and more people are starting to seriously educate themselves about Ripple, and joining in on the building momentum. I myself was misled when I started getting into crypto. Ripple seemed like a doomed scam. I was naive.

I think a more accurate statement would be: a large percentage of the community does not yet understand Ripple.

Edit: true success in cryptocurrency is going to come from adoption beyond the core cryptocurrency speculation/hype community. Ripple Labs has a well thought out strategy.