Narcissism + recklessness + greed + privilege, filtered through a heavy layer of survivorship bias, and whatever jackass makes it to the end was apparently a bold visionary genius the whole time.
But then once they're in that club, the money and notoriety are their own advantage.
I think you mean the concept of that existing is one of the big successes of people who debate scientific topics by flooding the conversation with rapid-fire assertions and FUD.