Help me understand why you would want currency to be decentralized

I am just now starting to learn about bitcoin. It seems to me that two of the most common arguments for its usefulness are (1) that it "takes the government out of our currency" and "takes banks out of our currency, and (2) that it is a "hedge against inflation."

I... have some questions.

I'm coming at this from an American perspective, so I understand that may factor into your answers. But I also think a lot of you are Americans, and I want to understand why you personally see bitcoin as advantageous to you.

Question #1: Why is decentralization a good thing? What are the specific advantages you see from removing intermediaries?

It seems to me that governments and banks provide important protections. Some examples:

1. Your banks savings are insured by the FDIC and NCUA. But if you yeet your bitcoin off to an incorrect address, it's gone forever and just sits there on the blockchain for eternity.

2. If a scam artist gets my grandma to give them her credit card or bank information, she can call the credit card company or the bank and they will reverse the fraudulent transactions. But if a hacker tricks my grandma into sending them bitcoin, or worse, giving them her seed phrase, then there is no one she can call.

So: If we are giving up these protections, what are the advantages, and how do the advantages outweigh the cost? If crypto is the future of finance, how will we protect all the grandmas and other technologically slow people out there?

Question #2: How is bitcoin a hedge against inflation?

Bitcoin is wildly volatile. Since I started learning about bitcoin a month ago, it went from $80,000 to under $60,000 and currently sits around $62,000.

Doesn't that mean that the value of your bitcoin has deflated by roughly 25% in a month?

And as for the idea that your fiat currency will continue to lose value, there are many investments that provide a return that outpace inflation. The average inflation rate for USD from 2021 to 2025 was 4.7%. The average stock market return was around 14%. So by investing in the stock market, the purchasing power of your fiat would have grown greater than the inflation rate.

There are also simpler investments like CDs and the money market with rates of return roughly similar to the inflation rate, so they are often an effective way to preserve purchasing power.

So: If inflation is your concern, why is bitcoin a better hedge compared to other investments?

Help me understand.