Its protection.

From your point of view, yeah. Not from the point of view of the creator and the platform.

Linus isn’t clutching his pearls nor is he crying, he’s just pointing out you are circumventing the method of payment to the platform. It is detrimental to both the platform and the creator. That is a fact. Your choice has an impact and you should be aware of that.
But at no point did he say “you’re a bad person if you use adblock”.

What has got you so worried?