you said in another thread about how average people have no idea what a suit is, so think about this: when the first human being squats 1,000 pounds raw, "average people" won't give a shit because people have been squatting over 1,000 pounds for years now.
the multi-ply gear hoses other lifters by diminishing their accomplishments. someone asks what "the all-time squat record" is and i can't give them three answers. the records and the spectacle are the multi-ply. you take someone who doesn't know what shirts are and they watch kennelly bench 1100 pounds, then take him to a USAPL meet and he'll wonder why everyone's flipping out at a guy benching 805.
it artificially inflates the records and in the eyes of the ignorant masses smashes the impressiveness of the non-geared lifters.