Cholesterol is a broad term and doesn't address the specifics necessary to addr iness overall average health for an individual.
I agree completely, people should not be trying to treat a cholesterol number. They should be optimizing their metabolic health. Cholesterol should be an indicator that further follow-up is required, either arterial imaging, or diet and lifestyle interventions
Then there is the whole "sugar" issue. There are dozens of sugars and we only associate the term with fructose or sucrose. We can technically name all sorts of things as sugars, but if it doesn't include sucrose and fructose explicitly, then it "isn't" sugar on the label.
Happily, all of those sugars do get included in the carbohydrate label on packaging. I would say dietary carbohydrates are the biggest culprit in cardiovascular disease, and that's what people should focus on instead of cholesterol.