Why does the fantasy genre have such a bad reputation?

[Albertosaurus Rex]

So I was chatting with an uncle of mine the other day, when the discussion turned to books. He asked me what kind of stuff I like to read.
"I like fantasy," I say.
"Garbage," he replies.
"Excuse me?"
"It's garbage."
"How do you know? Do you ever read fantasy?"
"No, because it's garbage."
"So how can you know it's garbage?"
"Because it is."

One might think that I am exceggerating (Did I spell that right?), but I'm not. This is exactly how it happened. (Well, the conversation was in Dutch, but you get what I mean.) And it's not the first time I've encountered this kind of attitude: people who just know that all fantasy (and often all science fiction too) is garbage, when they either never read it or have just read some bad Tolkien knock-off.

Just let it slide past, one might say. Those people don't know what they're missing. But I can't. I usually get along fine with my uncle, but that conversation hurt and offended me at some level, as this kind of conversation always does. Because I love the stuff. Because I want to write the stuff. And because of that elitist, condescending attitude that comes with that opinion. If he had said "It just doesn't appeal to me", fine. Not everyone has to like everything.

An aside: of course there's a lot of bad fantasy around. That's just to be expected. (Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap.) But there is so very much fantasy around these days that there are also more quality reads than ever. Surely we've moved away from endless series of LOTR-clones?

Another thought just occurred to me. The newspaper that I read has a books section on saturdays. There are a few reviews of non-fiction and "literary" novels, a small corner for a thriller review and a summary of other recent releases, both original Dutch and translated fiction. Fantasy is never included on those lists, even though a sizeable amount is being released. (Mostly translated - there are Dutch fantasy authors, but not a lot.) Why? Why is that?

My rant is getting a bit long, but I think you're getting my point. Why does fantasy (and science fiction often too) such a horrible reputation?