I think there's an equal amount of holier-than-thou attitude going around as elitism. I know the poor excuse that passes as historical study in the West encourages you to attack the person and not their arguments, but it's poor rhetoric.
This isn't your usual case of 'welfare epics' as you have to have some level of skill to obtain them in the first place and you would likely progress to the next 10 man tier without them, but if you look at the real issue- players getting gear higher than what the instance was designed for- the premise is the same.
I think most people basically agree with Brolly. 'Welfare' epics can serve a purpose: to quickly transition you to the upper tiers of raiding. However, many people 'abuse' them when they use them to outgear encounters that they cannot defeat with skill. This promotes bad play and untuned encounters- overall a worse product.