Um...you don't have to associate your real name at all. You get the option when setting up the G+ account and linking it. My YouTube account is completely separate from my real name and will remain so. If I want to, I can also set up another Google account (which I have done) to protect this situation even further. Please don't assume that I am an 'apologist' for anything or anyone. I am not.
Every time I log into YouTube I'm asked to change my username to my gmail name, I decline every time. What happens when if I accidentally click yes one time? Can I change it back? There is no opt out that I can find. Why would I want to decline every time I use YouTube? To leave a review for an app on the Google play store I now need to use the name that the account is associated with. I have no desire to make a searchable inventory of my opinions on app's that is associated with my Gmail account. The day that started was the day that I stopped using play store when an app was available on any other way. I would like to both offer useful feedback to developers and both endorsements or warning to other users but not at the cost of my anonymity. If there is a way to get Google to stop trying to associate my YouTube account with my other Google accounts I'd use it, but it's not very apparent. Just like the Google play changes and supported by comments from top management Google isn't interested in anonymity, it's interested in people using their real names and integrating services under one tent. It's more than reasonable to find this thrust annoying and undesirable, your inability to see that and your defense of their inconvenient annoying policies very much makes you an apologist.