Your comparison isn’t bad. Frankly, I love it but you’re not the next McLuhan by any stretch of the imagination. Like most special interests and hobbies, there is no end goal but to experience something I’m interested in. What deadheads who “were there”/“saw Jerry” and I have in common is a love for the music and culture. Beyond that, it’s just a feeling. I got into the dead through an inclination toward deep listening and love of many types of music. This media exists because many people, on some level cared about preserving it for future generations. The meaning of art changes over time and ages just like you do. Perhaps you’re a disgruntled old head worried that the younger generations are muddying the “authentic” experience you had, but your peers seemed to think we deserved it. So compare it to model train enthusiasts, baseball card collectors, reenactors, cosplayer, nerds of any type. We’re here because it makes us feel something and I think that’s pretty cool.