Why According to some Turntable extremists Pitch Control and Direct Drive is Sacrilege?

Generalization and over zealous ownership biases. ....
Two of the absolute worst criteria to choose most audio, but especially turntables , and the arms and cartridges needed to complete the job.
Many think direct drive is the " only " choice for best of in a field with exceptional belt and idler drives when executed properly are preferred by many. If a direct drive sounds brittle to one persons ears and pleasing to another......it’s why we have choices for our own tastes, and not just for the zealots of one drive choice. They ALL, have strengths and inherent weekness’s and all are not equal in their own camps or against each other.
Direct drive and the claim of perfect pitch with all the faults some hear and others are bias blind to ignore , is just a preference. Like belt drives some more accurate than some realize and others that are not as accurate but have executed all other perameters to remove self noise. The .025 wow and flutter of a good direct drive , on the surface is impressive but it’s just one thing of many that harms playback. A good belt drive with .05 wow and flutter , as much as some direct drive and idler zealots scream, will be unoticed by most as a problem at all.
Thats about 16 thousands of an rpm off or .6 seconds off after an entire side. Some claim to hear it....I think they are full of it.
Belts can suffer the same with a power supply constantly adjusting apposed to minor corrections . Their is no one drive choice is better in my view. They all have brands/models that excell, and that suck ,both in performance and value (price).
Turntables and phono preamplifiers I think an open mind is better than a personal biased closed in narrow view of what OTHERS should like. We all hear differently and focus on different points of music, genres, frequency extremes etc...
What’s wrong with choice let alone mine over yours.....

  If a direct drive sounds brittle to one persons ears and pleasing to another......it’s why we have choices for our own tastes, and not just for the zealots of one drive choice.

Do you compare different turntables with the same tonearm/cartridge ?

 The .025 wow and flutter of a good direct drive , on the surface is impressive but it’s just one thing of many that harms playback. A good belt drive with .05 wow and flutter , as much as some direct drive and idler zealots scream, will be unoticed by most as a problem at all.

A good DD has lower wow and flutter:

0.015 Denon DP-80 and Technics SP-10 mkIII
0.02 Victor TT-101
0.025 Luxman PD-444 and new Technics SL1200GAE  

And don't forget that cutting lathe is Direct Drive too 

My "Alloy Convertible" turntable routinely measured .02 wow and flutter and platter rundown times of as much as 7 minutes, also dead quiet 

Bruce

@kps25sc 

I owned a Nakamichi TT for years, direct drive made as good as the Japanese could make them back then. Tried several arms, including a Forsell linear air bearing arm, it never sounded really good.

Which one? Probably The Dragon CT ?

Because their best and extremely rare today TX-1000 was probably made by Micro Seiki. 

@chakster 
Yes , of course the same arm  n cart. Apples to apples,  always.

I'm really not as impressed with specs as you seem to be. Wow and flutter is but one measurement and also one with dubious formulas behind its final claims. Not really seeing the reason for you to say that .025 for a DD needs to be lower to be a better table. Its the same as your Lux 444, a table I owned a lifetime ago which you praise but now what are you actually saying? Its not up to par? 
Specs mean little without all the accompanying perameters to do no harm to that tiny signal. Self noise and rejection of outside vibrations is more important than .008 rpm off speed by a large margin IMHO anyway.

What does a DD motor on a cutting lathe have to do at all with playing them back. THAT'S apples to avacodos. No music is played or noise in the room when a cutting lathe cuts grooves and sits on a secure floor on a stabilized and isolated stand.
Your home environment is more hostile for noise, static, reflection and deflection of floors and walls . It means nothing as far as the superiority that a turntable needs to be DD to be the best. Thats just nonsense.  Any honest music loving anologue head will know all drives offer some exceptional playback regardless of what biased zealots claim.
We have preferences for sound, looks, and the ergonomics of use we gravitate towards. They all have strengths and weaknesses no matter how low some formulated spec is.
It's no guarantee it will sound it's best or be the best or be the general consensus that it is in fact all that. There are a lot, a real lot of non DD tables that many prefer over the technics and others. Thats proof, generalizations and biased ownership are the worst forms of choice for all. Best for those that can't acknowledge others right to choose what suits others needs and preferences of sound. I've heard very good belted units, DD's and idler drives. Very good examples of all drives exist for superb playback. In fact I heard a very well sorted idler drive make an expensive technics DD sound anemic in comparison just yesterday.  Like the folks who like the sound of their Rega over a DD......it doesn't make them wrong and your bias right. It just makes them enjoy a choice they made and prefer over something like DD that they hear as hard unenjoyable to THIER hearing , not yours or mine. I like and prefer choice and the flavor some drives bring to certain music also. Choice is good or the only question asked on this forum if some had their way would be " so what color did you get your technics in?"......