I think you raise a good point here, but I'd break it down further. I think a lot of the reaction against TLJ and TFA is people just on a gut level not liking it. The endless criticism of this or that aspect of the film is mostly just post hoc justifications for the gut feeling. Basically, an unconscious reaction looking for a conscious basis. In some cases, I think people's criticisms make sense and are valid. In a LOT of cases, I think people are perfectly happy to excuse something identical from a previous film that they liked, whereas they nitpick it to death in the newer films. I think that speaks more to their gut reaction than it does to the validity of their specific criticism.
"I didn't like it because XYZ."
"Did you like this other film?"
"Yes."
"But the other film had XYZ, too."
"Yes, but I liked the other film, so XYZ didn't matter."
So, really, XYZ isn't the issue. The issue is whether you did/didn't like the film at a baseline level. And that's fine. I get that not everyone likes the newer films or TLJ specifically. And I also think there are legitimate complaints that can be leveled against it and legitimate flaws in the film. I just don't think they're unique to TLJ (or TFA, for that matter) in many cases, and that they existed in the OT as well, but it's more that people just like the OT better that lets them ignore that stuff, whereas they just don't like the newer films, and therefore the thing they didn't mind in the old movie rubs them the wrong way in the new one.