Love them or hate them, ARF and RTF's are the mainstay of the hobby at the moment (and I cannot personally see that changing anytime soon).
Sure I'd love to build a nice 50cc P47 with a 77cc Evolution radial in it and then go to town and detail the hell out of the aircraft itself, but my situation does not allow for the space and time money needed to do just that. So I'll continue to take pride in my ARF's and the way I put them together, as I pump all the prides and time I can into making them all 'just so'!.