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Well as someone who earns his entire living from writing, albeit mostly copy writing, not fiction (which I do for fun and relaxation), my own feelings on the subject tend to somewhat mimic those of ardeegee.
The way I always put it: Fully half of all Americans believe they have "at least one book in them." After reading some really awful self published work or work in some writers forums from people who clearly don't know what they're doing, my humble opinion is that in many if not most cases, "in them" is exactly where that book ought to stay.
I think most people fail to realize how incredibly difficult it is to actually write an entire book, never mind one which people would actually want to read. I remember reading something by a well known author (the name escapes me at the moment) where he would ask people who told him they wanted to be an author a simple question: "why?" Then, when people gave the pat answer that they want to be famous, they want to be rich, they want to see their names in print, he reminded them that 99% of published authors are not rich or famous.
People only see the nice display of books with the author in a life size cardboard cutout and they imagine that it's so easy that they could do this too. I think that's really what this is all about. By demanding that people show they've read something recently, the place hopes to weed out the people who only see the table with the books and the cardboard cutout from those who write simply because they have a need to write and who love what they do and will do whatever is needed to hone their craft.
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