As T.H. Huxley said after reading the Origin of Species, "How stupid of me not to have thought of that."

i guess my question is

are the hajjis different because they got different as a conseqence of the hajj
OR

the haj, at least at a moment in time selected for individuals who were more inclined towards the literalist interpretation

or

a little bit of both

I think the importance of hajjis in that sense is probably a thing of the past. Remember that until the 1950s (and may be even later) only a few dedicated people went for Haj. It was a long and difficult journey. Most of them also spent some time (months, years?) in Mecca on their trip. All of that is no longer true. A lot more people go to Haj nowadays and most (all?) spend only a month in Mecca/Medina.

On the other hand, the events of the day of Arafat (the main part of the Haj) which includes a sermon by the imam there is broadcast around the world.

It is often said that Malcom X's encounter with blue-eyed Muslims in Mecca was relevatory for him,

From what I have read about Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, Malcolm claimed a lot more importance for his haj trip on his ideas than seems reasonable.

the haj, at least at a moment in time selected for individuals who were more inclined towards the literalist interpretation


the point of my post though is that there really isn't a genuine "literalist" interpretation. rather, there is the interpretation that is normative in mecca and arab lands, and that interpretation is privileged over the "deviations" that crop up in the indian subcontinent or africa. one can see this in the switching of pakistani american muslims from subcontinental to arab attire.

I think the importance of hajjis in that sense is probably a thing of the
past.

perhaps. i think that in some ways this post goes under the "as the arabs do" file. in the 1980s one of my uncles attempted to introduce shafi (as opposed to hanafi) formulations on everything to all he could talk to. this was after a long pilgrimate to mecca and subsequent study in a muslim institution in saudi arabia. he's chilled a bit, but it illustrates the general principle. arabs the legit template.