Yes, it is ideological. But you're right, at the end of the day, it's the business that matters. Developers are going to have guiding principles and it's not a bad idea to evaluate them every now and then; I hope my hypothetical at least illustrates why the alternative opinion exists. I quite like your hypothetical situation, it's the best retort, and offers a great motivating example for the rise of NoSQL, where ACID compliance simply doesn't make as much business sense as scalability with less validity.

"I don't believe in hypothetical situations" -- Kenneth the Page, 30 Rock.