I just went off to read what's being written Somewhere Else on The Great Morris Debate and came across this snippet which I'm going to nick wholesale:

There's also something about the general weirdness and strangeness of our music and dance traditions (from Padstow to Bacup via border sides in blackface and tatters). None of that is ever put across by your average substandard beer-swilling wannabe-Cotswold revival side with piss-poor musicians It seems like those types have simply not paid attention to why e.g. Bampton are so good, but then that's only an equivalent to the way most boring folk club "traditional" singers have only ever listened to the surface of revival performers and never ever paid attention to Gordon Hall, Fred Jordan, Harry Cox, Walter Pardon etc., presumably because it's "too hard".

Which seems to go some way towards explaining why some are so obtuse and recalcitrant about stuff they've made not the slightest effort to learn anything about. What it really comes down to is the overriding importance of respecting traditions. Conventions can (and often should) be broken but our cultural heritages have to be respected so that we can add to them.