For the record, "It's good to question idiocy" is not particularly defensive.
As for why the influx of new socks / general idiots, hard to say. We used to get this in the Assylum every now and then, though they were generally much more aggressive.
Used to make me think of Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid, talking about how gunslingers always try to prove themselves by beating the baddest.
Waco Kid wrote:
Then one day I hear "Reach for it, mister." I spun around, and there I was, standing face to face with a six-year-old kid. Well, I just laid down my guns and walked away... Little ******* shot me in the ***. So I limped to the nearest saloon, crawled inside a whiskey bottle, and I've been there ever since.