Simon,
Apologetics was, is, and will continue to be for the indefinite future a response to 180+ years of criticism, anti-Mormonism, Violence and assassinations against the Mormons, extermination orders, hate publications and "ministries" of professional anti-Mormons, and of course Internet anti-Mormonism which resides in encouraging environments like MDB.
Nay, my brothers and sisters, it is not apologetics that are nasty; it never has been. It has been the 180+ years of vile criticism and villainy put endlessly forth against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And for what? So that a people could not, cannot, and likely will continue to not be able to practice their religion in peace [which the Constitution guarantees (unless, apparently, you ask Ed Decker, the Tanners, James White, or Scratch)].
Critics wrote the book on this behavior, and sometimes the only way to fight fire is with fire. Were it not for apologetics, critics, anti-Mormons, and tireless violence and bigotry of 180+ years would have gone uncontested. Apologetics is the answer. Apologetics is a response to critics.
I think your view of things is distorted. I understand Mormons like to view their history in this fashion, because Joseph Smith exploited the persecution narrative to unite his people and explain his failures. To be sure, the violent persecution Mormons experienced can never be justified, but it should never be confused with so-called anti-Mormon publications. It’s unrealistic to expect the world, specifically the world of Christianity, not to respond to Mormonism’s attack on their beliefs. In this respect, Mormonism is the aggressor plain and simple. The Mormon press issued a steady stream of anti-Catholic, anti-Methodist, anti-Baptist, anti-Presbyterian propaganda.
Some Mormons think it’s a sign of being the true church to receive so much attention from the Christian world, but this situation was created by the antagonistic nature of Mormonism. Anti-Mormons were created by Mormons because their brand of the gospel needs them. The concept of a great apostasy, the mother of harlots, apostate Christendom, and the restoration are violent and colonialistic claims to the rest of the world. When the world, specifically the Christian world, decides to fight back, the Mormons cry persecution. Nonsense!
Apologists don’t exist to protect the church from persecution; they exist to explain problems that would crop up without anti-Mormon anyway, because the Book of Mormon, Book of Abraham, and Joseph Smith’s early revelations are absurd in the face of modern scholarship. This is the same reason Christian apologists exist as well.
If Mormons really want to practice their religion in peace, they need to discontinue their aggressive, culturally hostile missionary program.