If I went out once a year I'd probably be less conscious of the contents of the pack simply due to economics.

It's not a religion. People who live their lives working and going to football games and hardly ever backpacking look at ANY backpacker who goes every month and sometimes for weeks at a time like they are crazy, too - it doesn't take ultralight pack weights to manage that.

What's convincing some of the folks in my hiking group is not me, but their knees and backs. But some of the old timers still cling firmly to double wall tents and huge stoves.