Why can't you just tell the blockchain that your bitcoin was stolen so that nobody can use it?
The short answer, is because "the blockchain" has no idea whether your bitcoin got stolen, or whether you actually intended to spend it. The blockchain sees a legitimate spend and a theft as the same thing: A transfer from one account to another.

What the setup instructions are trying to protect you from is losing the private key to your wallet. If somebody learns your wallet private key, then they can spend your money. The catch is, you don't know whether somebody else has a copy of your private key until your bitcoins are gone.