James, you just don't seem to learn huh. Why do you watch movies? 90% of it is fake or took a shitload more then 40 hours to make it 'right'. Why do you listen to music? I mean how many filters does a singer need to make it sound as it should? Why do you look in a folder for a car or something to eat, as you will know that they spend at least a full day to make the picture of the car, not even mentioning the retouching after that.
Look, that you get off on pictures and do stuff you describe in such detail it's just scary, be my guest. That doesn't mean that the rest of the world does that.
I never had any real persons in my sig/avatar up to this point. I really think Jessica (her name, in case you didn't know) looks great, and since I am watching the TV show at the moment I thought it was a nice thing to make my sig/avatar with her in it. Now I don't care that they used 40 hours to make it look 'perfect', as I like the picture as it is. You don't wonder how the almighty crab burger is made, you just know it's delicious

(lol that was probably the most lame example I could take

).
Now I'll stop writing, so you can come up with yet another way to make all the things we made good today bad again... And maybe continue your oh-so perfectly described hobby while watching your avatar.
EDIT: By the way, I think you're post is a lot more disturbing then my sig. I mean, a lot of kids here watch the boards to you know?