why do brewers on this and other sites go apoplectic if they cannot bring their wort down to 60 degrees in 15-30 minutes before pitching their ale yeast when all they need is to bring the temperature down to 100- 110 F
Well, the yeast would love it if you pitched at 100-110. Their metabolic rate goes up proportionately with temp, so at 100-110, they would eat sugars faster, reproduce faster, and generally be having a swell time doing the things they love to do most. However, depending on the style of beer, this may be bad for the beer, as they also give off proportionally higher levels of esters and phenolics at those higher temps, which are off flavors in most beer styles.
When you see the optimum temp range on any given yeast packet/vial/pouch, that optimum range is a balance between the yeast fully attenuating and giving off acceptable ester/phenol levels for the given beer style. So, for like most ales, you want to get down to 60ish and pitch there because the yeast are going to fully attenuate and give off minimum off flavors at that temp.
In a standard ale made with a standard Chico strain, like S-05 or 1056, the yeast would give off a sweet, tropical fruit like ester at higher temps. This is somewhat acceptable in low concentrations in some styles, like APAs, IPAs, and Ambers, but you wouldn't want a sweet, tropical fruity Porter or Stout.
For something like a Saison style, the style is actually defined by high levels of esters and phenols, so you purposely heat them up to get that production. It's not uncommon to ferment a saison at 80-90 degrees.
Same thing with something like a Hefewiezen. If you want the Hefeweizen to taste like banana, you ferment it on the high side, where you are purposely upping the yeast's ester production, resulting in the banana flavor. If you want a spicy clove Hefeweizen, you ferment it at a lower temp where the yeast puts off more phenolics that taste like cloves.
So, it's all in what you want the yeast to do per the style. Different strains of yeast have different characteristics and put off different flavors at different temps, and you pitch and ferment at the temps that are appropriate to the style.