This was one of those long articles I bookmarked from my RSS reader to read later and then the time slipped away. Yesterday on DeltaTangoBravo, Daniel linked to this same article I probably would have forgotten about.
Although protesting may not be the answer, the points brought up in this article are worth the read.
The real reason that standards are important to all of us is that they create an expected level of behavior that conforms to the lowest common denominator. Whether anyone likes it or not — especially all those smart engineers whose current daily work is far beyond what a nearly ten year-old specification might dictate as "the standard" — when it comes to technology, we are collectively truly only as strong as the weakest link.
Read "The real reason you should care about web standards" by Design by Fire.
For some background and detailed descriptions on what exactly web standards are, read Developing With Web Standards, Recommendations and best practices.