That's how I see it.

There's also something that folks forget about people that get suckered in like this: It's not their first rodeo.

Imagine you're someone that gets below average marks in school, makes a lot of simple mistakes, and has to work to meet average expectations in life. All this gets called out and checked a lot by people that seem to be having an easier time at everything. A lesson the world teaches people like this is: never admit you screwed up, because maybe this time nobody noticed. It's an environment where you just get emotionally beat up if you don't protect yourself. So, to me at least, it's not a surprise that a lot of people react to being called out by defending their ego every way they know how.