The reason that Linux systems are less prone to malware is twofold, historically Linux users have been more technical, but foremost due to it's lower marketshare of desktop users, giving malware devs a lower return on their time writing software.
This is changing rapidly now, less technically skilled people are switching to Linux and more are running it on their desktops.
This makes for a more interesting target meaning more time is devoted to writing malware for Linux.
So, a good AV should now be used ahead of the incoming malware wave, ignoring it and suggesting that other's do the same is arrogant.