By "self-appointed" I mean its presumed authority to proclaim what is best for Monero.
You are straw manning.
It is explicitly stated that that MEW has the authority to proclaim only the opinion of the organization. I know this because I insisted that the scope of this authority be made explicit when the group was formed. If some greater authority were claimed, I would not have joined.
The real MEW is the free market, inclusive of all participants regardless of paying membership dues.
Well no. The (real) MEW is an organization and if you don't join you aren't a participant in that organization. That doesn't disqualify you from stating an opinion of course.
The free market understands correlation does not imply causation, and it's pathetic that the Official MEW doesn't. Also pathetic is their belief that goofing around speculating about ideal emission rates is real work equivalent to actual coding on important milestones like the GUI, DB, etc.
The MEW has not expressed any opinion yet. The matter was simply brought up for discussion. No vote has been taken as yet.
The MEW was supposed to accomplish great things for the XMR economy, but the price has tanked since it was created.
PHEPH dude.