I agree with you on most points.
Downvotes are intended because the final evaluation of content is meant to be a combination of up and down curation.
Sure. I know about the idea of the 'redistribution' of the rewards pool. In general I am fine with flags (actually, I think the option to flag is essential).
I wouldn't complain if someone flagged some of my posts in case he thinks they were 'overvalued'. However, if a whale selects a certain user to flag every single of his/her posts due to personal animosities without even reading them, then I don't think that helps to improve the platform but only keeps off people from using HIVE.
Concerning the argument of possible 'counter flags' of the community:
If someone would constantly downvote you or me, maybe (maybe!) some stakeholders started to counter these flags, but if any newbie is affected, most of the time nobody notices/cares about that - and if then he complains loudly in public, he will get the explanation that that's blockchain/HIVE ("Don't whine, it's just the redistribution of the rewards pool, nothing personal!"). Whale flags and comments are never ever meant personal, you know. :-)