I think the culture is not a bitcoind thing, but a bitcoin thing.

To change the culture, is by definition to lobby, perhaps a pejorative word so let's say to communicate honorably and effectively.

There will always be bad actors doing bad lobbying, the medicine is to counteract it with better more honest and effective communication (better lobbying).

But there's no getting away from lobbying.

If bitcoind somehow falls in prestige and userbase, some other schelling point will be found and same dynamics will eventually emerge.

Perhaps winston churchill would say that bitcoind is the worst possible bitcoin client, except for all the others. ("Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.....")