It seems terribly unfair to call it profound ignorance. As you say, it's a values difference. If you remember learning about "individualism", that's what it means; it's the idea that the collective doesn't have unbounded authority to tell individuals what to do.
> It makes me sad seeing a community I’d otherwise regard as intelligent being so profoundly ignorant
I feel the same about religion, so AFAIK this has always been so - move along, nothing to see here.
Except religion has been around long enough to excuse itself from the obvious, or a least to bare its fangs at anyone thinking of commenting on the emperor's new clothes..
But I also acknowledge this is a western culture issue more than one of intelligence alone.
Discouraging nonetheless. We’ve really messed up.