Thoughts on passive indexing vs active stock picking in current climate?

It feels like a lot of the talk about active management outperforming passive indexing is just noise, especially with so much capital inflow into the big caps. Unless you're finding genuinely underpriced small-to-mid caps, isn't it just easier to ride the indices? What am I missing here that makes active picking worth the effort for the average retail trader beyond just chasing a narrative?