I think it has more to do with generational differences than anything else. Since the last VHS release of the OT films was in 1995, many people born after 1990 probably haven’t grown up watching the originals. So the vast majority of people 17 years old or younger have no nostalgic connection with these films, and even most people under 30 have had their memory ‘replaced’ with memories of the Special Editions (I was one of these people for a time).
I just turned 32 and started watching these movies at 6 or 7 years old, so I can still clearly remember a time before even the Faces vhs.
When the '04 dvd had just been released, I remember watching it with my best friend from high school on the brand new 60" sony widescreen his family had just recently bought. This was over component cables and with a brand new 5.1 system so it was quite an experience.
Each time one of the changed scenes from '97 came up I would just say in an ominous voice “THE SPECIAL EDITION” and if there were multiple changed shots in a row like in Mos Eisley I would say it twice like I was Everett McGill repeating “THE WATER OF LIFE” in the Alan Smithee version of Dune.
My friend laughed and then said “I actually like the Special Edition.” At the time I actually agreed with him, mostly. He’s actually a full year older than me, and I’m pretty sure he would’ve at least seen the original versions prior to '97 (he mentioned once that he’d seen the SE’s in the theater), but we didn’t meet until '99 so I’ll have to ask him about that someday.
I already knew about the aditional changes that had been done for the dvd, but he didn’t…
We only watched ANH, but he obviously watched the Empire and Jedi discs at some point. I know this because one day we were talking about the subject of the original versions and he said “oh, dude, they put Hayden Christensen into the end of Jedi! wtf?”
A friend of mind from college said pretty much the exact same thing.
I bring this up to illustrate how Hayden as Anakin ended up being a kind of “Greedo shoots first” moment for my generation. Even Family Guy referenced it. I actually didn’t even notice Greedo shooting first when I saw the SE in the theater in '97, making it all the more jarring when I did notice it on vhs (and amusing when Ben Affleck mentioned it in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back).