Think of this:
Van Gogh was a cringy weirdo loser when he was alive but now, he's considered one of the greatest painters of all time.
Newton would definitely have a thread on KF if he was alive today. He threatened to murder his mother and stepfather when he was a teenager, that would definitely fuck up his prospects in the age of social media outrage. He apparently died as a virgin, he would probably be considered an Incel today.
There are lolcows who are secret geniuses but, to the average person, they're just cringy because they're unlike everyone else.
I remember some dude talking with Metokur, Ralph etc. on a stream. They were laughing at some Youtuber that this dude was a fan of. Metokur said something like: "Are you aware of the private life of X?" to which the dude replied: "No, I just like when he makes videos about insert some technical terms here."
Metokur only saw the cringe, the other guy saw a specific field that the Youtuber was an expert in.
We need to think more about who we make fun of because we might get a genius inventor to kill himself just because he happens to like diaper porn.
I don't mind laughing at people like DSP because all they do is consume and pollute but that's a completely different type of person.