Exactly, as if somebody is holding the aerodynamic center of the airplane and it twitches and rotates about that point.
I agree. Without engaging in a deeper conversation about the ability to accurately model complex weather phenomena in a flight simulator, there are some glaring imbalances regarding “ground lift” vs. thermals (clouds) that could at least be addressed and adjusted by the devs. The types of lift/thermals as they are currently implemented in the sim are explained well here (Why is the MSFS weather engine so broken? - #3 by MSGamerTag01).
An over-abundance of ground lift combined with a lack of cloud thermals (cumulus) would explain a lot of things. It would explain many of these complaints (as in the OP’s) about odd turbulence behavior and thermals that are present with barely any wind but somehow not present with no wind. It would explain why so many people just conclude that since the aircraft is getting tossed about in the sim, it must be realistic, “because that’s what happens IRL.” Lastly, it would explain something that I think everybody can agreed on - that there isn’t enough turbulence in clouds and storm situations.