I am sorry to hear about your brother as well John. You do him proud by your words and actions.
To the topic at hand....
However, with too many, the pride factor has escalated to the level of being monotonously obnoxious and nose-in-the-air, believing and espousing that high-priced gear is a necessity for bowhunting and that anything less is used by those other people.
I could not agree with you more. I have seen this attitude as well. However, I also see another attitude forming on occasion. People, as described in the above quote, are not necessarily the same as those folks who trully enjoy shooting/experimenting with new equipment/gear. More often than not I see the two lumped together because they both share the same type of gear. It is not necessarily the gear that is to blame but rather the attitude of the person behind the string.
I am not really directing my comments at anyone in particular but rather just as a general observation.