Society as a whole is rather anti-intellectualist though. Among other things a side-effect of the general hostility levelled at anyone “different” for any reason. The average person will, at some level, consider acts of higher intelligence than their own to be a challenge to their position… attacks on them, in a sense. This can generally be combined with the underlying distrust of humanity for anything sufficiently unfamiliar. And with large numbers of people doing this in tandem, it makes for an environment that is rather hostile to those of genuinely higher intelligence.
So what do you expect someone brought up in an environment of perpetual distrust and low-level hostility to be like? Especially when it seems that everyone else is trying to hold them back and cripple their potential for the sake of petty egos?

Imagine how different the world would be if the idiots knew and accepted they were idiots, for that matter. Even teaching them what “idiot” means would be a start.

Well, ok. But that is no excuse to be rude and call names. Saying the truth and being a total ass are two independant and different things.

If I fail a math test, telling me “you failed” and “you failed miserably, you godd-for-nothing limped-brain slob” are totally different. The former is the good, real, fact-stating way of saying things. The latter is the one used by asses who need to learn the difference between truth and wanton aggressivity.

Just my two pennies, btw.

“It is error alone which needs government support. Truth can stand by itself.” – Thomas Jefferson