You’ve brought up many thoughtful, challenging and controversial points. Of course I disagree with many things you've said, but this is not the last time I will encounter such view points. The challenge of communicating the merits of bending to engineers and scientists is greater than it is to musicians and artists. Everyone brings their own baggage to the table I suppose.

I’ve found myself in positions of being a spokesperson for bending and creative electronics at various points over the past few years and the challenges you’ve faced me with are crucial to consider as I move forward.

I’ve posted some of my thoughts on bending at the following address
 http://casperelectronics.com/circuit-bending/ 
You might also get something out of this interview
http://casperelectronics.com/2008/05/09/interview-on-brian-lehrer-show-part2/

I’d like to think that you’ll find my stance on bending and electronics a little less offensive based on my writing.
 I have enormous respect for electrical engineers and in no way intend to undermine the extreme deliberation and intelligence that goes into their work. I think that one of bendings' great values is as a gateway to greater understanding of electrical theory. 
 I enjoy building circuits from scratch and designing simple circuits of my own when necessary. I am an absolute non purist, build, bend, design and deconstruct as necessary or desired. 

One of the main driving forces (one of) is to bring the amazing medium of electronics to people who would otherwise find the medium daunting and unapproachable. This is extremely important. Not everyone has the capacity to be an EE. Many people feel that they CAN'T grasp the material. But that doesn't mean that they don't have tons to gain from utilizing electronics. 
 I’ve been teaching creative electronics for several years and I use bending as a tool to introduce electronics to artists who envision electronics as something they don’t/can't get. That was me 10 years ago. I’ve seen a transformation take place in dozens of inspired students, so I have a hard time agreeing when you say that bending is simply “a self-indulgent dead endâ€.  
Your comparison of bending to DJing is an apt one, but I think your opinions on DJing are ones that would be passionately and aggressively argued against by countless musicians, artists, musicologists, historians, etc. so I’m not really gonna touch that one. I DO know that DJ culture has had a vast, deep impact on art and music as we know it…. More than circuit bending ever will. So in that respect it’s a flattering comparison. 

There are several other points you’ve brought up that I would like to respond to..perhaps I will if this discussion continues.

One last point... My definition of circuit bending varies from Reed Ghazalas' and many others. I don't celebrate "anti theory" nor do I mistake lack of knowledge for creative strength. 