I didn't like FBAR/FATCA either, and yes, they are less about "rich people" and more about activities outside the "norm". Also don't forget "suspicious activity reports". There are an awful lot of things that need to be undone and many things to avoid like the 'wealth tax'.. that would be 1000x worse.

For me the wakeup was when I realized that there really was no mechanism preventing cheating the system at the most fundamental level: e.g. conjuring infinite money to support a Martingale strategy. And that the crooks running the system can and do just change the rules whenever they are losing, and in the worst case are just bailed out. And that nobody was aware of these things, and very few even aware of currency as a denominator.

But now it becomes clear that all of our institutions including academic and scientific, are completely owned.

I've never bitten anyone's head off either, but there definitely have been times I failed to follow up, whether due to bias or like you say, just not knowing that it would be important. Nowadays, for sure will consider virtually any evidence.

I wouldn't say anyone has bitten my head off, but I have a poor record of convincing anyone of anything, basically 0%.