The LP is pulling inward on the stylus while the A/S device is pulling outward on the tonearm. Where are these counteracting forces mediated? In the only place that there's elasticity to prevent something breaking: the elastic suspension between the cantilever and the cartridge body.
Doug, you may very well be right about this assertion. It has a common-sense ring of truth. And I don't doubt that your rig sounds better (to you and others) without A/S; this vector-force narrative would seem to explain it in a scientific way. But I have to wonder about the actual physics of it. Now, I'm not a physicist (my PhD is in English, not Physics) but it seems logical to me that, with a rigid tonearm, the lateral force of the A/S device is transferred to the stylus, and the "mediation" of this force through the elasticity of the cartridge suspension would occur only if the A/S force is being met with a countervailing force at the stylus tip, in other words, the outside groove wall. Under these circumstances, of course, too much A/S force is being applied. Otherwise, the transmitted force merely relieves pressure on the elasticity of the cartridge suspension, pressure caused by too little A/S.
I'd love to have someone qualified in the physics of tonearm geometry and vector forces weigh in on this fascinating subject.