Don't be surprised that this happened. It's not just "rednecks", etc who think like that. Read some of the comments on this forum.
Ignorance comes from virtually every group, including professionals wearing white collars or lab coats. If you think ignorance is limited by education, you are wrong again--I've been around awhile and can tell you that some very-well-educated people may be good at what they do for a living, but there are other areas of their lives where they are no smarter than a 10 year old.