Time for some blasphemy.
I've never aerated my wort. Not once.
I rarely if ever make starters.
I've had two stalled fermentations in a string of 30-or-so brews. One was with a vial of WLP300 hefeweizen which I reckon travelled for too long before ending up in sub-optimal condition on my doorstep.
The other was a Wyeast2000 Budvar Lager which I realise in hindsight is the single one occasion where I really should have made a starter (first time lager so I'm putting this down to ignorance on my part).
The one time where I used a starter was for a 1.120SG imperial stout, and even there, starter can be literlly translated to "pitched with activated US-05 plus the two-weeks-old cake of another US-05 brew".
I used to shake my 5gal fermentation vessel for 5' or so, but recently I find myself relying on whatever oxygen the wort sucks up as it splashed in the fermentor when it exits my plate cooler.
I worry about oxygen when I'm planning a brew, and until now, have always opted to put my faith in healthy yeast, often in the form of a single sachet of activated yeast.
None of which implies I advocate against aerating. In my case, nonchalance seems to get the beer brewed, and I reckon one reason why I stick to this approach is because a) it seems to work for me and b) I want to understand at which point oxygen starts to matter on my system.