There is an old saying (that i made up) "At the heart of every conversation is a relationship".

Everything we do, every interaction is based on relationships in some form. Even if you are doing a rote task, you got there on a relationship in some form.

So when people say they are idealists or want to be pure and not have people help them with anything or not allow you to help them find a job using your network or help them get into grad school or whatever - they are wrong but entitled to their own opinions. Life is about relationships, leverage them or you're missing out.