The old movies theoretically do not exist anymore - Lucas has said it himself several times. They have been replaced by his new vision of the films - and they don't represent what the films once were (anyone claiming differently automatically depicts all the changes applied as unnecessary, imho - which again raises the question why they were done in the first place). Another point you failed to mention is that the current DVDs represent nothing more than a sloppy rush job. Even the folks who do love the special editions were repulsed by the obvious technical mistakes that had been put up with in order to get the thing out of the door asap.
You said it yourself - most people don't care if something is good or not these days, it goes along very well with Lucas' "good enough" attitude. Just because we live in a time were crap sells as if it was gold, doesn't turn it into gold. I'm not denying the PT's commercial success or that there are people that like it. I just say the new films are not as much of a revolutionary achievement as the original trilogy in it's genuine form was. The PT is full of unused potential, because George Lucas became a person who does not want to put more effort into things than absolutely necessary.