My uneducated take on the situation:

There are silver labs that are beautiful purebreds no better or worse than any other lab based simply on the color of their fur. There are some breeders who accept this and are willing to include silvers in their breeding programs like any other color.

There are some silver labs created by crossbreeding to take a shortcut to this rare and beautiful variation. These dogs are, of course, no better or worse than any other lab mix, though I have some serious reservations about the breeders they come from.

And then there are a lot of breeders who won't accept any from the first group because the second group exists, and seems to be trying to convince people they are greatly inferior to other labs. This is beginning to give me some reservations baout these breeders as well.