>Personal taste isn't weird. Judging work not meeting that taste based said taste alone, well, that is weird.

Why not. All judgement by individuals is made off of personal opinions. It's not weird at all. In fact your judgement of me here is also personal taste. I personally think judgement based off of personal taste is not weird at all.

>Out of respect, out of basic politeness and basic decency.

I disagree. I have experience with travel photography too. I ask only when I want a close up portrait, otherwise I don't ask and I don't make a big deal out of it.

If the culture has a huge problem with it, then I may respect the culture to avoid confrontation, but if not, again, I don't go out of my way to ask as if it was a huge problem to begin with because it's not.

I believe this is a point of contention among street photographers. Some believe you should always ask permission, others believe that if you are in public you are fair game.

Also laws may vary depending upon where you are.