Ian,
I had a rear foglight on my Audi and in those 5 years I never once used it unnecessarily. I don't drive around with 6 bulbs blinding oncoming drivers either, and all my lights are aimed low. I do drive around with fog lights on because otherwise I can't see the side of the road where pedestrians and animals may be; not to mention guard rails and such. The Xterra lights have no spread at all from side to side: Very poor! Anyway, you need to stop taking things so seriously. Jus because I say I want to blind all the other assholes on the road doesn't mean I actually do it. If that were the case I'd skip the lights and just start using the ARB to push them off the road alltogether. Maybe I shouldn't have said that?
As far as the brake lights go on the Xterra, you're right, they are plenty bright. What I'm talking about are the running light taillights. In heavy rain and fog you have to be pretty close to the back of an Xterra to see the lights. There have been times on Xcursions too where the dust was so thick the only things I could see was the spare tire ont he roof of the Xterra ahead of me. Those without tires on their roof were invisible.
Anyway, this is a safety aid and a 35W red light on the back may be annoying when used improperly, but that's the worst it can be. It doesn't blind people and it's anything but unsafe.
Oh, and although I turned it on at Schlud's for a demonstration, I think he can confirm that I turned the light off before driving away.