Looking for 'Background' (vs. 'Rules') Devotees

Gentlesophonts:

Are there any folks out there who are more interested in campaign
background rather than rules and such?  TML discussions of late seem to
be overwhelmed with questions and debates over what are, IMHO, minutia.
Here's a sampling of messages since the beginning of March:

Msgs           'Rules' Msgs    'Background' Msgs   Other Msgs
6892-6895            1                 2                1
6896-6899            1                 0                3
6900-6908            4                 2                3
6909-6917            5                 0                4
6918-6923            4                 0                2
6924-6926            2                 0                1
6927-6932            2                 0                4
6933-6935            2                 0                1
6936-6939            3                 0                1
6940-6946            3                 1                3
6947-6947            1                 0                0
6948-6949            1                 0                1
6950-6956            2                 0                5

     Totals         30                 5               29

(`Other Msgs' includes msgs about the TML, Traveller products, and
other games like 2300AD.)

I've never been one to be too concerned with details of the rules.
(I just hold to the First Rule of Role Playing:  If the Rules Don't
Work the Way You'd Like - Change Them - It's Just a Game.).  I'm more
concerned with the `Big Picture'.  Is there anyone else who thinks
discussions about weapon penetration, craft design, and planetary
science is a little moot in a two-dimensional universe?

(I'm not trying to hassle you `rules junkies' - I'm just looking for
some like-minded-souls of my own.)

In an effort to start a `Background' discussion, here's a question:  What
is there to recommend TNE (vs. MT or CT) from a `background' point of
view?  Forget the new rules and such, is the new campaign an improvement
over the ante-Rebellion, Rebellion and Hard Times eras?  (For the sake
of discussion let's ignore the hard, cold reality that TNE is the only
campaign being supported officially.)

Cordially,

David Johnson