Nothing is perfect and you are absolutely correct that a lot of people make the OS choice seem like a much bigger deal than it is. Sure, over can argue ethical reasons and even give technical recommendations for very clear cut use cases, but for anyone that just wants a workstation or private server, pretty much anything goes, just follow your heart's desire.
The whole beauty of Linux is that you simply pick and choose what you like, and if you find something better, you switch over. Even things like the OS are simply not that relevant, as after a bit of usage you will have customized it anyway. This isn't Windows or Apple where you are locked in to anything.
Why limit it to exactly those? What's wrong with starting with other big distros or obscure tiny distro? Hell, I know people who are using red hat or suse, not to forget the trillion Arch variants. If you're curious and think it's a good fit or just want to try things out, anything is fine