Here's the kicker: for the longest time, with respect to certain things, they aren't wrong to think "we're the smart ones." They know about certain things better than any city-slicker, for real.
When I was high school/college age, we used to go spend weekends at my uncle's S. Texas ranch -- my grandfather was the de facto foreman. He would put us to work doing various things, most of which were geared at demonstrating how little "country common sense" all of us college boys had. And he was right. He'd give us some task that we would puzzle over and couldn't figure out, and after laughing at us for a while, show us the obvious way to do it. Live in the country, and you learn stuff that the city folks don't. You don't just reach into the bottom of the chicken coop to grab eggs - you look to make sure there's not a rattler in there eating them. Gonna burn brush? Wait till a dry stretch with no wind in the forecast, but not so dry that it's burn-ban weather. Need to get to the back pasture? Stick to the path on the left side, because the right side holds mud and you'll get stuck. All kinds of little ins and outs that you learn from living a rural life. They ARE experts on that -- that's their subject matter.
Our current hell started when they became convinced that they know EVERYTHING, and they're smarter than EVERYONE. No. Stay in your fucking lane. If I want to know how to keep from getting bitten by a rattlesnake, how to avoid losing my chickens to a raccoon, how to tell which cow is going to go into labor first, I'll talk to a rancher. If I want to know if a particular plane is fit to fly, I'll talk to a pilot and/or mechanic. If I want to know about a specific medical treatment, I'll talk to a doctor. That doesn't mean that I'll just flat take their word for everything, but it means that I recognize that a lifetime of real-world knowledge and experience has real value, and I'd be smart to listen to the guys with that expertise.
Instead, these guys are the functional equivalent of the city slicker out at the ranch who ignores the rancher's advice not to take their Lexus sedan to the back pasture, because that road's shitty and you'll get stuck -- holler "I don't think so, you aren't so smart!"......and 3 minutes later, the phone rings from the back pasture because city boy's Lexus is stuck up to both axles. "Come get me! You have to tow me out of here! And don't you DARE scratch my paint when you do!"