My complaint is that it ultimately gives me less money than if I get a term policy and invest the rest. A lot less money over the course of 20 or 30 years.
You keep saying no one here knows what they're talking about - that's a heck of an assumption. You have no idea what anyone here knows and you seem to be able to only say "Nuh uh, you're all wrong!" without giving any actual facts. If you really care about setting people straight, do it.
And as for my own research - I got suckered in to a terrible whole life policy right after I finished graduate school. It was my own fault - I was naive and didn't do my own research until about 18 months after I got the policy. I learned all about it then, modeled out every assumption and reasonable outcome. At which point I wasn't too far into it to not just suck it up, cancel it, and get a little back via a 1035 exchange. But it still cost me about $15,000, so it was a painful and embarrassing lesson.
I should have known better, but at least I do now.