I have been called half a ham or not a real ham in this thread.
I am sorry I do not add up to a real ham in your opinion,
You're a real ham. Some curmudgeons will never be happy because the hobby is changing with the times, and never again will it be like it was in the 60's and 70's. They don't get to define ham radio for the rest of us, ignore their sad and misguided rants. They're dinosaurs.
The reason they changed the rules is because the ARRL, people who sell magazines, and the equipment makers wanted it that way.
Nobody else cares one way or the other.
And , the younger generations living in their mom's basement having been given everything are so used to being given everything that they actually believe that they deserved to have it given to them.