Some colorful analogies I came across during my research into OP_RETURN.
“OP_RETURN is like giving out clean needles to heroin addicts. It’s there as harm mitigation, but it isn’t something thats generally good for the system.”
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=471928.0
“@gidgreen OP_RETURN is being added because some people insist on abusing the blockchain. This gives them a less painful way to do it. An analogy would be a rape victim not-resisting to try to minimise the damage.”
“Words like “abuse” and “rape” aren’t helpful. If you think the size of the blockchain is a big issue, then please help optimize it. Because even without OP_RETURN, the blockchain will get bigger. Forever.”
https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/3737
