I do! Foul... um... fouling! :/
You're right in that we simply disagree on the motivation. The way I understand it, it didn't matter whether they had 1 or 100 pedals. It was their attitudes about performing and audience interaction that drew the "shoegazer" epithet. You're right that their music also tended toward the layerd, many-effect, moody style. But the "shoegazing" wasn't because they couldn't look up from their pedals. It was because they couldn't be bothered to look up from their pedals, or shoes, or the carpet, etc.