You say that the “Like” function offers a way for others to offer consensus on things that were said during a discussion...

If this were to be removed, what would you propose to replace it that would function similarly?
I don’t think any community representatives that read threads want to fish through 50+ “I agree” posts, but rather see a singular post with 50 “Likes” to construe as “50 people obviously agree with this statement”.

You actively point out that some thoughts/opinions are “of the minority”, but then complain when they don’t get the same amount of consensus (or “Likes”) as majority opinions. Doesn’t that... kind of make sense? There are unpopular opinions, and obviously they won’t get the same amount of traction as popular opinions.

People not liking unpopular opinions isn’t anyone “trying to shut down alternate viewpoints” nor is it “abuse of the system”—it’s simply people not agreeing with them.