These people act like that b/c they truly believe they are too intelligent to be fooled by such things -- they make for the most dangerous sheep imo. I know two people who are precisely like this. One was very high up in finance for a world known corporation, the other I have known all my life, masters in math, smart all around. Both of these people are exactly the type to not question the news. "Why would they lie?" Plus they both believe they are so brilliant that if there were something amiss they would have picked up on it being so erudite. These people are the hardest to convince b/c there in their mind is the underlying premise that they are smarter and you have nothing to present that they didn't know already or couldn't have come to the conclusion on their own.

For example the one I know in finance retired a few yrs back. Everyone that knows him, knows not to ever bring up the "Creature from Jeckyl Island", he thinks the Fed is a great institution that is constantly saving the republic. He has never read it, and never will, but he KNOWS that it is totally wrong b/c his pride tells him so.