No doubt they are. Ignorance and marketing often combine to create a sense of quality where none exist resulting in false economy. Preferring a hard blade is usually the result of being amazed at how long it holds and edge. But when it does dull, getting that edge back is very difficult or nearly impossible if you don’t have the right tools and skill set. A softer (not soft) steel will give an edge exactly as sharp which cuts exactly as well as the hard blade. The difference is that with softer steel you can easily resharpen it (though it will dull a bit faster) and dropping or flexing it will not harm the knife.
Actually they are fairly soft - softer than most pocket knives. That’s why they are so easy to sharpen. Besides being brittle and prone to breakage hard blades are notoriously difficult to re-sharpen. Straight razors on the other hand rely on a very thin blade that is easily sharped so hardness would be a real problem. The softness of the blade is also precisely why razor strops work. After sharpening or minor use, the very thin metal at the very edge of the blade will roll over (if you have one and a microscope, check it out for yourself). A strop removes that rolled edge and smooths any nicks in the metal. If the steel was fully hardened, it would do squat.
