I actually sort of agree about this.
I do believe that the underground nature of lucid dreaming makes it more special and cool, like a secret treasure we enjoy for ourselves;
but then again, I am also eager to teach people about the subject whenever I get the chance.
So I am pretty ambivalent about this. 
That little closet drama, sir, is a work of art, and a very apt demonstration. As I see it, there are many factors in that reaction, one of which only I intend to bring up here. People think lucid dreaming is a bit off because it is pure self-indulgence. We in Britain, and probably you in America, have something left in our societies of the Puritan streak. Any kind of pure fun is inherently suspect and the onus probandi is on the innovation. It would be interesting to see if there is any difference by country. But consider these entertainments, at least some of which most of us will admit to finding a bit suspect: most obviously, pornography (ok very suspect 
), video games (I’ll come back to that), trash fiction, endless clips of people falling over, endless videos of cats, pure joke books.
And so on.
Now, what do these all have in common? Apart from pornography, I think most people would say the others are fine in moderation, because they are just what they claim to be: entertainments. Entertainments are there to keep us amused when we have nothing useful to do. The problems begin when we start taking time away from what we ought to be doing to devote to the things that ought to be empty-time fillers. Games on a mobile 'phone? Fine, perhaps, if you’re stuck in a lift or waiting for your egg to boil. But if you’re supposed to be writing an essay? Then you’re thinking about them the wrong way. And the reason that these are seen as a bit iffy, when taken too far, more so than other entertainments like, for example, Shakespeare plays, Wagner operas, Caravaggio oils &c., to which one can devote many hours without arousing suspicion [wanted stealthy ninja-smiley here but we don’t have one!], is the other thing that they have in common: that they neither claim nor deliver any kind of concomitant edifying value (and obviously what makes pornography different yet again is that on top of that it exploits other people). They do not instruct us in the human condition or show us how we should act. I come back to video games merely to mention that while they aren’t a field I know much about, I do know over the years some have developed into something more artistic and valuable. But I imagine the majority, and the visible majority at the time when the prejudicial attitude was formed in mainstream society, was still stuff like “Pong” and “Pac-Man” which have as much edifying value as a swamp eel. Swamp eel is quite tasty, though.
What else do people disapprove of that entertains without edifying? Excessive food, excessive drink, substance abuse, excessive smoking and those sorts of things. Naturally, the fact that all those damage the health is also important. At first sight lucid dreams seem to be just the same sort of pure indulgence. If you tell people you have a place you can go where you can do whatever you want, naturally they will have the sort of reaction they have for hedonists, and that Stoics had for Epicureans. It doesn’t seem like the sober man’s game. A life is there not to be spent consuming but producing. Moreover, because it seems so strange, they imagine it might be damaging to health as well, likes so many guilty pleasures. But there are some important differences they haven’t thought of. First, you’re not wasting time. What else would you be doing? Having normal dreams. Second, if you think about it, there are all sorts of ways LDs can be edifying. You don’t have to search these boards long to find that out. You can practise things, explore your own mind or tell stories with as much human interest as any WL literature. That’s a better use of time than NDs, or not remembering anything. Third, unlike some other things we’ve mentioned, you’re not exactly rotting your brain by engaging it in critical thinking and flights of imagination, as we strive to do.
But by the time you’ve explained that, the men in white coats have arrived. Well, there are some off-the-cuff jottings for you. I hope it makes some kind of sense.
I think that people often don’t take things, which aren’t part of mainstream, into account. If we (lucid dreamers) will talk to other people about LDs, it will slowly become part of mainstream and even be mentioned on TV or radio. It will be awesome when people won’t react like Laurelindo showed. 
None of this has been my experience. In fact, many people at my school know about lucid dreaming. It seems to be fairly common knowledge around here. 
I think that talking about people as if they are all narrow minded and not ready to be ‘unplugged’ is a little unfair. We all have different passions, and LDing is not for everyone. Even if there was a magic pill that would give you a LD whenever you wanted, I doubt everyone would be taking it every day. I’m with dB_FTS about telling friends and having zero interest, they don’t seem scared of the unknown, they just don’t really care.
I can think of a downside to LDing becoming mainstream though. You know that even if you’ve been doing it for years, you will get people lecturing you on this ‘amazing thing called lucid dreaming!’ -And once the fad has inevitably passed, you will be seen as a bit weird for carrying on with it. (This has been my experience with a few things!) 
I didn’tmean to call people who are unfamiliar with lucid dreaming “narrow-minded”, the point of interest here is why anyone would not want to learn about lucid dreaming.
In lucid dreams you can experience anything you like, live out all kinds of desires, face your fears and ask advice from Dream Characters.
You could even choose to just observe the dream events as a passive observer if you don’t feel like being in control.
So my point is that I don’t see any reason for anyone to not feel interested in lucid dreaming, because it can only be very beneficial.
Hi ‘Laurelindo’. First, sorry if my post seemed offensive as none was intended, but some of the posts just came across in a bad way imo. However, I was mulling this over at work today and I still can’t relate to what you said about people’s reactions, maybe we are just speaking to different sorts of people? I don’t know what’s worse though, people who find it scary or people who think it’s lame!
I (obviously) agree with you though that LDs are awesome and I think everyone should experience one first before making up their mind about them, but like I said, as long as effort is involved I dont think it will be practiced by everyone. It makes me think of people who are dying to loose weight, they know that if they ate healthier and excercised they would see results and hopefully be happier, but life and lack of motivation gets in the way and it goes out the window. Like all the DJs on here that have been started with good intentions and left a couple of entries later. I also tried to get my boyfriend to practice LDing with me, but although he’s had a couple in the past and enjoyed them, he just doesn’t care about ‘flying, and all that’ as he puts it… 
I hope you see where I’m coming from, sorry for the ramble! I’m getting bored waiting to go out!!
I think most people simply aren’t interested in lucid dreaming. Not because they “don’t know it’s possibilities” or other such crap, but because they simply have better things to do. I think the problem is that you people who are interested in lucid dreaming can’t imagine people who aren’t.
What better things can you do while asleep than LD???
*Practicing for lucid dreaming during the days makes you more aware of everything you do in life, and will let you enjoy life on a much deeper level.
*Lucid dreaming doesn’t interfere with your life in any way, because it takes place while you sleep.
A lot of people complain that they “sleep their lives away at night”, but lucid dreaming could solve that. 
*There is no reason to not be interested in the concept lucid dreaming, as far as I can see.
Maybe some people aren’t willing to put in the necessary effort, but the lucid dreams themselves are incredibly developing and give people a unique chance to experience anything they can imagine, and in full realism.
I guess I am lucky, a lot of people in school are interested in dreams, few of them actually tried LDing, and one of my schoolmates is “Ultra Lucid Dreamer”, but it’s still “weird” to discuss about LDing since you can’t prove anything you say…
I personally think that most people don’t care about dreams, like “who needs dreams, we have real life”, “dream are useless” and so on, if you could prove them existence* of LD, then I guess they will change their mind.
*Yes, there are books, forums and stuff, but there are also books and forums about religions, if you know what I mean…