Do Fantasy fans really think that stuff like Lord of the RIngs is better than the works of prestigious authors like John Steinbeck?

if they do

then they've never read Steinbeck's (not quite complete) version of Le Morte de Arthur

which is AMAZINGLY good.

(Even better than T H Whites "The Once and Future King", though it doesn't beat White's original version of "The Sword in the Stone")

I wouldn't think of comparing the apples of Tolkien with the organges of Steinbeck.

You don't like fantasy: we get it. You can stop attacking it, and us, now.

LotR is by a prestigious auther, dear. Didn't you know?

The GENRE a writer writes says nothing about their ability to write.  Just admit that you don't care for fantasy.  That's fine, it's personal taste.  I see that Steinbeck's Morte d'Arthur has already been mentioned.  It's fantastic, so Steinbeck was by no means above writing fantasy.  It's a great shame he didn't get around to finishing it.  If you really, really hate fantasy I venture that you'll hate it too. Most people who don't rate Lord of the Rings read it too young the first time so all they got was a Boy's Own adventure and miss out on the nuance and that's too bad for them but no skin off my nose.  

Every genre has good and bad writers.  The thing with readers is that they can put up with mediocre writers as long as they love the genre but in order to cross into less loved genres the writing has to extraordinary.  This holds true for music and all arts too.