If the indifference to people is a disturbing concept to you, then you already find yourself leaning towards a more humanist approach for street photography. I argue you should go with it, not fight it.
I would argue that telling someone to keep or ditch an image is more likely to be derived from a technical and perfectionist approach. This, I think, is neither helpful nor appropriate.
There is more than light that meets the eye when we see a scene. One of our most secretive of senses is the detection and interpretation of peoples movement. Indeed this is used by police and security the world over to recognise a threat, or by customs to decide who to check. It is
