There is a strong trend of anti-intellectualism in modern culture that extends to HN. If someone says something that later turns out to be false, then they are

There is a strong trend of anti-intellectualism in modern culture that extends to HN. If someone says something that later turns out to be false, then they are considered to be lying, and their supposed lie is used to justify disbelief in anything any other expert says. It's a violation of basic reasoning skills as well as the HN rules, but it will always will get upvoted because it satisfies a certain kind of hubris: "If I don't know something then no one could possibly know it and therefore the idea I came up with after 10 seconds of thought is just as valid as anyone else's."