To whom do you contend that ND fans must "justify" anything? To you?
The importance of conference affiliation is a generational issue. I'm old. I developed my affinity for college football as a boy in Winston County and Walker County Alabama. In those days, you were either "Roll Tide" or "War Eagle" Nobody shouted "SEC,SEC,SEC." Conference membership was trivia. That game on Saturday night was all that mattered. There were no playoffs, and yet, the world kept spinning.
Today's NCAA FB fan has watched an entire generation of ESPN spinning the absolute, essential notion that the SEC is "King of Conferences." It worked. Fans of lesser programs in the deep south can bask in the reflected glory of the handful of power programs. It creates a fanbase that exceeds state borders. Folks throughout the South can be SEC fans, winners by association. That's great for television networks.
You claim to mean no offense when you call ND fans "myopic and insincere." Another poster called their view "simply ignorant." Well, "I just can't let that go unchallenged." When you demean people who disagree with you, it likely means that you are the one who is insecure in your position. There is an obsession among some on this board that Notre Dame must give up their unique status and become like the rest of us. Maybe it's envy, not necessarily. I think it is just the fear that Notre Dame may someday leave the ACC and we would not be able to "bask in the reflected glory."
Arguments on this board will not move ND one way or the other. But it is great fun to discuss it all. This can be done without name calling. You clearly do not understand how ND fans feel about the subject. I do, because I feel that way too. Conference championships have their value. National championships certainly do. If you want to really enjoy college football, stop watching the polls; start watching the games. Follow your home team; support them. Your life will not end if they fail to win a National Championship.