If people had voted for different witnesses, they wouldn't have started on the hive chain with 0 stake. The problem is they voted for the same person to hold multiple witness spots. The steem chain was successfully attacked and is now under the control of a single entity. Some of the witnesses are obvious fake accounts. Some of the witnesses have no idea what they're doing but promise to run exactly the software they're told to run.
ALL of the witnesses on steem serve at the pleasure of one person. That person is the only person who decides who the witnesses are. That person also voted a post to the top of trending that accuses hive users of ethnic cleansing. Nobody can do anything about this single person having all this power.

On hive, stakeholders can use their stake to change witnesses.
In answer to your question - if the chain is attacked, I demand witnesses do everything in their power to halt that attack. Including forking and moving stake used in the attack.

I don't agree with everything the initial hive witnesses have done, but at least I can vote that conscience on hive and it matters
https://steemit.com/manlaw/@foxon/decentralization-law

If these users didn't realize they were participating in an attack against the blockchain, then it makes sense that they have to talk with someone before getting handed a free stake in a new chain. If they knew they were participating in an attack, then I would hope they never get an airdrop from ANYONE that can be used to attack the very group that gave them the airdrop