Saunders also tends to make ad hominem attacks of this nature at times, perhaps varying "stupid people" with "idiots" and 'tin foil hatters'. I think the bottom line is the same- by attacking people's characters rather than their arguments, it tends to derail efforts to keep focused on the evidence for a given position rather than the person or people who hold said position.
sometimes we really are talking about stupid people tho.
Sure, according to various definitions of the term. But I think we can agree that it tends to be an insult/ad hominem attack and we -might- be able to agree that it tends to derail thread discussions in the direction of more of the same. At the very least, it can tend to discourage the person one is insulting to further engage in a conversation with their insulter.
I think it makes more sense to try to focus on a person's arguments rather than insult them if we believe them to not meet a certain standard of intelligent discussion.