Why should I help open the AQ gates in World of Warcraft?

I found this thread over at Gamergod.com (now defunct, removed link) that asks "Why should casual gamers help hardcore raiders open the gates of AQ?"

From the post;

"As a casual gamer, I and many friends wonder.. Why should I help? Why bust my cute butt helping to just open more raids? There was a good article about this in the New York Times of all places, the fact is and im hoping the developers see it, is that to most casual gamers, which do make up the majority of most every mmo focusing on only raid content isnt going to make the fanbase happy."

Darniaq provides some insight into a reason why casual players might;

"In a way, it's an example of how everyone's just a cog in the great machinery of Life, or in this case, a player society. If everyone does their little bit, they all can benefit. If some people rely on others to get it done, due to complacency or laziness, well, we see that in real life too so there's no surprise there.

This unlocks access to more raiding, but it's also part of the Lore for the expansion, which comes equipped with something for everyone. Sometimes I feel people can get so focused on an incremental event they forget the larger story it's a part of. Not that this would make me partake of this uber grindfest of course. It's just academically interesting to see what sorts of people are a part of it and what sorts are not."

But I find Darniaq's reason pretty weak. I can read lore on a webpage instead of wasting my valuable in game time grinding foolishly on a quest that will never help me outside of a few reputation points and I can play the expansion whether I help with this quest or not.

So I repeat what the article says... why help the hardcore catasses with a quest that only benefits them in the end? This should hopefully be a stick in the side of Blizzard to finally step up and recognize that the gap between hardcore and casual is nearing the point of no return.

The Burning Crusade expansion may start to close this gap, but it is going to consist of finite content. Will Blizzard catch up before the casual MAJORITY is level 70 or will Blizzard just let the gap keep on growing with new catass dungeon after catass dungeon?

Update: 29 Nov, 2009 - Edited post, corrected spelling, removed broken links, and applied label.