Sounds like someone doesn't understand the relative importance of the kernel vs the ancillary parts of Linux. The Linux kernel is overwhelmingly responsible for

Sounds like someone doesn't understand the relative importance of the kernel vs the ancillary parts of Linux. The Linux kernel is overwhelmingly responsible for every aspect or attribute you can think of when you say "Linux is <fill in the blank>" or "Linux supports <blank>" or "Linux does it <blank> way". And likewise, it is where a disproportionate number of fixes happen relative to the entire system - even non-driver, non-security things. There's a reason distros update your kernel every time there's a new graphics driver update, or a new systemd version, and it isn't just a "might as well update the kernel too" sort of thing.