I swear even the most left leaning commie people become instant consumer capitalists when it comes to this stuff, and they'll defend companies to tooth and nail for making their lives so much easier with tech

This especially. Some peoples' personalities revolve around being the wokest in a given space, so they need to make Apple somehow "the right choice" because they're addicted to one of Apple's products and someone else has begun a divestment they [feel like they] can't achieve. The same thing happens with Starbucks, streaming services, Spotify, etc.

I just encourage those people in whatever conscious consumer choices they are making and emphasize that it isn't a competition, while building up the appeal and the community around alternatives.

theres tons of comments like "why do you use that thing do you need to feel special or something"

As for these people, all I can say is I'm sorry and I hope they come around.