Well I will continue to maintain that it comes from Maori's dancing.

The 'get everyone involved' camp and the 'do it right and keep it pure' brigade, will argue forever, I suspect. Whichever camp you may support, be it in dance, song or music, it is always going to be more important, for others to know, the reasons why you feel the way you do.

Despite the divisions, Morris appears to me to be increasingly more popular. The attraction of Morris being that it is enjoyable. In the past money may have played a part but I suspect the main attraction even then was enjoyment and distraction. Whether the fertility idea had or has much or any basis, it is a lot less important to dancers, than getting together and having fun. The Abbots Bromley being danced to the tune of 'Yellow Submarine' (see the first thread), seems to indicate which side of the argument has most popular support.

Is there not a certain inevitability to this outcome?

This Folk song collecting. Good or bad? also touches on and adds to many of the points in these threads.