Beginners question....apologies if the answer is obvious to some.
Seems like a lot more than one question. I'll do what I can to answer them all here, but this is going to be a long wordy post...
Who do I support?
Whomever you like. As far as bitcoin is concerned, there is no authority in charge to tell you what to do. You are required to gather your own knowledge and make your own decisions.
Classic or Core?
At the moment they are equivalent. They both recognize all currently valid transactions and blocks. Choosing one or the other expresses some amount of support for future possibilities, but regardless of which you choose today, you can always just switch to the other before, during, or immediately after any significant change in the network protocol. Choosing one or the other doesn't mean you are making a lifelong commitment today.
I hold bitcoin in a wallet, use it, occasionally, for purchases, but mainly use mine as a savings account, while I go about learning more.
Sounds like a good plan. Bitcoin is still an experimental technology. Don't store any value in bitcoin that you would be devastated to lose.
I have started reading about coins being destroyed, and miners choosing the wrong fork? and losing all their money....
Destruction of your coins doesn't happen from normal use of bitcoin. You need to choose to send your bitcoins to a "burn address", or you need to use non-standard wallet software to create unspendable outputs, or you need to be a miner using mining software with a bug in it. As long as you choose a well reviewed open-source wallet, store proper backups of your wallet, and avoid malware that can steal your wallet, you shouldn't lose your bitcoin.
So....
Does the wallet I choose represent a choice I have made?
Does the wallet I choose represent a choice I have made?
In the same way that the car you choose represents a choice you've made, or the sandwich you eat represents a choice you've made. Choose a wallet that has the ease of use, features, and security that you want. You can use Electrum, MultiBit, Bitcoin Core, Bitcoin Classic, Armory, blockchain.info, Mycellium, etc. There are also some businesses (such as Coinbase and Circle) that provide accounts to store your bitcoins if you trust their ability to secure the bitcoins more than you trust your own ability to keep malware and hackers off your computer. These accounts carry their own risks though, since the business providing the account may have full access to your bitcoins and be able to run off with them (or lose them).
If I do nothing but wait and see, will that affect my bitcoin?
Not sure what you mean by "affect your bitcoin". It is possible that your computer could get infected by a hacker or malware. In that case you could lose all your bitcoins. It is also possible that the exchange rate could be significantly different in the future, meaning that each of your bitcoins could be worth more than $10,000 or less than $10 (or anything in between).
I read that the reward halving will push the price up,
You are reading speculation and guesses by people who have a lot of faith and confidence in their own ability to predict the future. They could be right. They could be wrong. Only the future knows for sure. Perhaps the reward halving will reduce the exchange rate instead of increasing it.
but the Core/Classic debate will push prices down.
You are reading speculation and guesses by people who have a lot of faith and confidence in their own ability to predict the future. They could be right. They could be wrong. Only the future knows for sure. Perhaps the Core/Classic debate increases the exchange rate instead of reducing it.
I read that retailers are pulling out of bitcoin due to transaction times at the moment being too long,
You've read fact-checked articles written by reputable journalists listing specific retailers that have stated that they have stopped accepting bitcoin transactions and that long confirmation times are the reason? Or you've read some random blog post by some random internet writer that is trying to push an agenda and making up things that support their argument without any proof of anything they've said?
but no evidence to support that statement? Where is a good place to go to read facts, not stories or arguments?
There is no specific source right now that reports regularly on the state of bitcoins and cryptocurrencies without propaganda, opinion presented as fact, and complete nonsense presented as truth. It's up to you to read with a skeptical mind and filter through the nonsense to find the truth. In general it's probably a good idea to assume that everything you read on the internet about bitcoin is either completely false, or carefully worded to push an agenda through partial truths and skewed representations.
Am I right in thinking this amazing technology is only as good as the people who decide what direction it goes in?
The technology is capable of a lot. If people choose a poor direction for using it, then there may be a time in the future when a better use of the technology replaces it. Since Bitcoin is a consensus protocol, it is very difficult to change the initial direction that was laid out for it when it was first created. Any and all consensus changes require the support and agreement of an overwhelming majority of users.
I'm struggling to find un-biased opinions, everyone, like politicians, can make their version of what would work, seem like the obvious choice, and the alternative seem ridiculous.
Correct. There is no official authority for bitcoin that can declare what is and what isn't. It is a decentralized open-source system that anyone can say anything about and do anything with that they like. It is up to you to use your brain and analytical skills to decide what you believe and what is true.
Is it too simple to say with bitcoin, majority rules?
Bitcoin is a consensus system, not a democracy. It requires an overwhelming majority to change a consensus rule. A simple majority (51+%) will simply split the system into 2 separate incompatible currencies. You'll have "old-bitcoin" and "new-bitcoin" each existing side-by-side and both trying to claim that they are the "real" bitcoin, and that the other is an "altcoin". Any time you try to send (or receive) you'll need to make sure that the other party is using the same "bitcoin" as you are.
And is this majority the people? The miners? The developers? It all makes my brain hurt.
It requires an overwhelming majority of peer nodes (including merchants, consumers, hoarders, miners, and developers).
