The people who “fetishize” it most are all the terminally online antigunners. I seriously see daily posts on Lemmy about the evils of this particular weapons design. Meanwhile I own several and during an average week I don’t think about them at all.
That article has many incorrect statements and assumptions. The original Colt/Armalite was marketed towards the public but it wasn’t initially popular with consumers because it started off expensive and it was a design departure from what they were used to (polymer instead of wood). Today there are a bunch of reasons the rifle design is popular. Due to how patents work, it is effectively Open Source at this point. 100+ companies make versions of it, or compatible parts. Therefore it is cheap and widely available.
Same thing with the Glock 19. It isn’t necessarily better or different than most other autoloading handguns on the market. Its patent expired so it became an “Open” design, cheaper and customizable.