I've learned that the blower fan is relatively easy and cheap to replace... but I don't think a blower fan would go bad from me muscling the switch. Back when the switch was just difficult to move, the fan sounded perfectly quiet and fine.

Again, the whole reason I'm in this situation is because the switch dial was hard to turn. I turned it with some muscle one day, heard an audible snap/click, and I've never gotten a reaction from the fan since.