One of the reasons why it happens is because it's all too easy for someone to "make their bones" by criticizing someone famous. If you're a blogger, and you'r

One of the reasons why it happens is because it's all too easy for someone to "make their bones" by criticizing someone famous. If you're a blogger, and you're trying to get attention (or trying to get karma points on Hacker News :-), what better way than to slam someone like Linus Torvalds by saying, "Shame, shame! You should suffer fools, and it's bad form to call people who are idiots for what they are."