Yeah, all that is true, and to your point I'm not against anyone doing their thing either, but when it impacts me that's where I draw the line. If you want to dangle on a chair high enough up in the air without the safety bar down when I'm not on the chair with you, by all means, go for it. I'm all for you exercising your individual rights. I don't believe states should even have laws governing safety bar use like some do.
My biggest issue riding lifts is that I have absolutely no control over when they're going to stop and how fast they're likely going to. I've been on some where when they hit the E-stop you go hurtling forward and without the bar down, you're likely to fly off the chair if you're not paying attention. On my bike, I'm mostly in control and statistically they're more dangerous, but like you said the perception of risk isn't the same. It's not the speed that kills, it's that sudden impact with the other immovable object or earth that does.
And then we get to the top of the lift, raise the bar, slide off and hurl our bodied down a slope of frozen water at 50 MPH on one or two pieces of wood and metal with trees, snow boulders, rocks on either side. Yeah, we're crazy, but that's where the fun is!