How 100% true. Some of my wife's family has never been out of the State they live in, a few have barely traveled outside of the town they were born in. Yet they KNOW that certain people are ALL criminals, drug addicts or just plain heathens. They refuse to believe that anything in this country is not perfect or that any other country, or even State, could be doing it better. They refuse to even try to get to know someone of a different ethic, religion, educational level (the Elites!) or sexual orientation, or even watch a show or read a book that doesn't say what they think. And they are always 100% right based on nothing but their own opinion.
Anyway, back to the OP, I would not call it esoteric tastes, I learned that it's better to buy quality once then poor quality two or three times. It even works with shoes, much less cars or audio equipment.