Cookie white list

The reason is that nearly all websites host interest-based advertising, and the overwhelming majority of them are provided by Google.

I do no business with Google or YouTube, ...

Merely loading a web page with Google advertisements makes you a business partner, in the fact that you become the product they sell. That's how Google became as successful as it has become. I surmise you have not been compensated for that.

... I see only three logical options: (1) Accept that I can't stop being tracked by Google on my IMac, (2) Browse without cookies, (3) Stop browsing.

That essentially encompasses your choices. In its settlement with the EU, sites that deposit cookies on your devices are required to display an utterly useless "disclaimer" stating "this site uses cookies" or words to that effect as though it makes everything ok: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/7670013. They might even provide an option to "use necessary cookies only" but websites cost money to maintain, and without ad revenue they simply could not exist. The website and Google are off the hook because you literally agreed that practice, by voluntarily loading that website.

Allow me to repeat that in less nuanced language: You pay Google by loading a website. You pay them more if you actually click on an advertisement, and you pay them a lot more if you buy something from it.

You are using what may be the only website on the planet that does not rely upon advertising revenue for its continued existence. But even Apple Support Communities is not free — you already paid for it by purchasing an Apple product. Unlike Google, Apple derives its revenue by selling products and services. They do not sell their customers.