well of COURSE there's elitism in the argument. But it's only the elitism of someone who has actually taken the time to read and THINK about haiku.
I don't read Japanese or even any thing closely related to it, however, I think you CAN pack a lot into a haiku, even in English. In fact, it's not that difficult. translations of haiku, while they may be incomplete and alter the sense of it, show that.
On top of that, haiku aren't all that difficult to understand. That's what's so frustrating about it. It takes about a 10 minute course in haiku to be able to get a lot more out of it.
So maybe I'm elitist (ok, I'm DEFINITELY elitist), but it doesn't take much to get to a more educated position with haiku. You just have to care.
But one thing is different, I'm not trying to shut them out or shut them down. I just want them to care that there's something beautiful here, and by thinking it's simply 17 syllables. (I admit, it's more difficult to condense a thought into 17 syllables than to avoid syllabic count restraints, but please, it only takes a few moments to condense most sentences into 17 syllables.
Note that I'm not against comdedic haiku. Just comedic ones from people who apparently arent' aware of how haiku CAN be used.