I have lots of respect for BJJ skills, training and BJJ athletes. For many reasons however I have stuck with judo and kendo over the years. Indeed, culture has something to do with this, although my main reasons are more related to the fact that being able to keep your feet in a fight is very important. Giving up tactical mobility (keeping on your feet keeps your tactical mobility there) on purpose or because you don't know how to handle fighting standing up, just does not make sense to me. I've been at this stuff too long to be convinced otherwise (since 1988)... Having said all that, injuries like tearing your shoulder out or whatever in BJJ though is different from being slammed down hard on the mats onto your face or head and breaking your neck or whatever like can happen with every throw in judo. Judo is safe (and wrestling - judo and wrestling are two sides of the same coin) providing you do it right and gently, you attack safely knowing how to do it safely, and you know how to fall and keep drilling how to fall. When two guys go at it with an attitude in judo (and this _does_ happen, just like in BJJ) people do get hurt, and the impact of being thrown down hard can make this kind of hurt especially bad. But, indeed, I've been at judo since 1988 and was competitive for about 6 years (also cross-competed a bit in BJJ) and have been injured several times, but never terribly badly. I guess my point here is that while maybe judo and wrestling cause less injuries overall than BJJ(?) but that the potential for more serious injury is a lot more present in them than in BJJ... At least this has been my assumption.
I do think being able to fight with your hands in the spur of the moment is important. One big selling point of S&S initially was the emphasis Pavel puts on being fight-ready. And I'll add, and my kendo sensei thinks the same way, kendo has self-defence applications. Too easy to get shot or stabbed though in real life. Honestly, these things are to me 99% sports and cultural activities only.