The reality is the majority of people don't have time (because of family/jobs/etcetera) or won't put forth the necessary effort to study the market to become a good active investor.

Passive is necessary for the majority of individuals. Most active professionals can't beat the market. Legendary investor Bill Miller beat the S&P 500 for 15 straight years. And then he ran flat for years and over his career cumulativly could NOT beat the market. Over a 25 - 30 year, active managers lose to the S&P 500 over 85% of the time.

The most important thing for most people:
Regular, monthly money into a passive fund while compounding for a long time will serve just fine.

Blessed!