I think the ingrained hostility doesn't come from high school and media, but from human nature which doesn't like it when people are trying to raise their status relative to you.

But anyway, the motive of speaking the truth is different from the motive of displaying intelligence, so to the degree that someone has the second motive that is likely enough to hinder the first. So if someone has the second motive, that isn't a good reason to be hostile, but it is a good reason to take what they say with a grain of salt.