The meme is a rip on those that think they can get into this hobby and expect to only have to spend $500-$1000 with the expectation that they are going to have good top quality equipment.
Can be applied to many hobbies actually such as photography, fly fishing, camping, skiing etc
My girlfriend has about $5000 invested in photography equipment. I have over $16k invested in a six bikes and over $3k invested in fly fishing equipment between rods, reels, waders and other miscellaneous items.
Hobbies with good equipment don't come cheap.