Favicons are mentioned once in the first page of that discussion. I think attributing all that outrage to the favicons, not the fact that they made ads look like results, is a massive mischaracterization of that discussion. Bordering on bad faith...
I maintain that favicons are VERY low on the list of reasons people are switching from Google to DDG. DDG having favicons too should be proof enough of that.
I think you are the only person trying to infer that anyone claimed favicons were the key thing.
The original tweet that started the whole discussion is: "There's something strange about the recent design change to google search results, favicons and extra header text: they all look like ads, which is perhaps the point?"
The comment you replied to said: "everyone is hating on Google's new search results, in part because of a distracting favicon" (emphasis mine).
There is no real inconsistency there, but for some reason you seem to have decided that there is and that it is very important.
It's got >2600 upvotes and has been high on the front page for 18 hours now: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22107823
> people are blind idiots
Hm...you may be onto something there :-)