Of course, Lucas can do what he wants. No one is really claiming otherwise. However, I think there's a distinct difference between getting mad at a man for raping his own franchise and not wanting to watch crap. I fall into the latter. For a $10 movie ticket, I sure as hell don't feel like listening to Anakin Skywalker talk about how much he hates the sand. Really, you can apply the same principle to anything you pay for. No one wants to feel like they wasted money.
I'd hardly call myself a hardcore fan. I mean, I like Star Wars, but I treat it like any other movie I watch. Bad filmaking is bad filmmaking no matter how you cut it.