Plink,
You seem to have some kind of problem with your fellow tactical rifle shooters.
USSR, not a bit, brother.
I shoot along side them often and learn a lot from them. I also own a rather large number of semi-autos and scoped long range rifles myself. What I have trouble with are fads and trends and how easily people are brainwashed into following them by the marketing folks who sell "coolness" rather than content. There's a big difference between tactical shooters and "tacti-cool" shooters.
Ever notice reviews of products? More often than not, the talk centers about how cool something looks rather than it's performance. I recently bought a new digital camera and read reviews all over the net before purchasing. Not one answered the questions I had about it, but I sure found out it's "coolness" factor compared to the others. Even the products themselves. Companies spend more time "restyling" than they do actually improving. Doesn't matter whether it's cars, boomboxes where glitter is more important than sound quality, or firearms accessories.
We have a large number of military and law enforcement who shoot at our range. They're serious professionals who are highly talented and work hard to keep their skills honed. They're generally very helpful, well trained, and present a positive image of firearms owners.
We also have a large number of the Rooney gun folks. They mostly just make a lot of noise, send rounds over the berm and in general, make a laughing stock of our sport. Those are the fellows that I like to poke fun at for being "tacti-cool". To them it's all some testosterone frenzy of acting cool, posturing and playing armchair commando.
Trend is just another word for fad. It's all just hoola hoops and frisbees.
I'm with CB900f on this one. I guess my head just doesn't shake as quietly as some.