Why do people have to rip a medium they prefer not to use?
They do this with cars, sports teams, trucks, religion, political parties, even race and culture, digital vs analog...rip, rip, rip. I love Coke, so therefore Pepsi sucks mentality.
It's the sign of one's irrationality, and subjectivity.
I shoot with B&W 90% of the time. And I prefer B&W but I'm not going to rip on color.
To say that color is distracting, is not a valid statement because it's a blanket statement. Is the color always distracting? There are times, but not always. It depends on the composition.
Color is just one of several visual elements that can be used in a photograph. In some comps, color will not work, yet in others, the color is required.
Does B&W work in every composition? Of course not.
B&W, and Color have their places in photography, and one is not better than the other. The real question is: Which is beneficial to the comp I'm envisioning?
I prefer B&W because I love the look, and I love developing, the craftsmanship that goes into B&W processing up to the printing of it. As to composition, you can make awesome compelling art with color too.