Yep, I agree, a lower charge or discharge rate will always be kinder to the cell.
I'm just saying that I've never seen the death of a cell other than doing something stupid like not locking a mod and setting in a cup holder while on a 20 min drive down the freeway (what's that custard smell? Shit! My stingray!). I haven't seen any unexpected rise in IR over the life of the cell, it will go up a little over time from cycling, no way to avoid that. The fake sony rose sharply, crappy cell. Real sonys, LG and 25r have remained low IR.
If I have a couple hrs to charge from 3.6v to 4.2v at a 0.5a rate, I will. If I don't, like if I'm leaving in an hour and don't want to leave the charger unattended or just need the cell to use, 1a.