It looks like this nicotine-afflicted character allows himself to be "owned" with the slightest provocation!

They suspected that I was a liberal simply because of my interest in science. They were correct to assume that in my case, but I still found it amazing that they'd think that way.

Many of my coworkers never went to college, and I suspect that they couldn't handle the challenges from professors that happened so often when I was in school years ago. I have no idea if that's still the norm, but the professors at my school didn't let some uninformed or unsupported argument from a student just slide to spare their feelings (or whatever) when I attended.

The most recent example of a poorly educated coworker getting ENRAGED at me was after he erroneously proclaimed that this country was founded with no taxation at all after the Revolutionary War and we needed to return to that policy. When I told him that we had taxes from the start, and for many years prior since taxation without government representation in England was a big part of it, he just kept yelling, "You're not listening to me!" as his face kept getting more red.

So I said, "Okay, maybe I misunderstood. Are you saying that this country had NO taxes during and immediately after the Revolutionary War?" Him: "Yes!" Me: "Then you're wrong about that, and I've seen multiple examples of taxes during that period during my past genealogical research alone." Him: "You're still not listening to me! It's impossible to deal with YOU PEOPLE!"

Whatever.

EDIT: I try to avoid discussing politics at work, but most right-wing coworkers (who tend to be loud-mouths about their political beliefs) figure out that I'm a liberal anyway. I don't drive a gigantic pickup truck, don't project some super-macho persona in an ostentatious manner, show an interest in science, politely don't engage in religious topics with them, etc.
And I sometimes wonder if Jews were looked at just as suspiciously in Germany before the Holocaust and before they had to wear identifying patches.

I couldn't help but scoff, but quickly changed the subject. I need my blood pressure to remain in check.

I later told him, "I'm listening to what you're saying, but I'm trying to tell you that you're wrong and how you can prove it yourself with a little effort. So it seems more like you're not listening to me, actually."

I'm glad that scientists have a better grasp that evidence means far more than a loud voice and demands to have "alternative facts" acknowledged.

It ended when our break was over that day, which was weeks ago.

He's finally acting nicer to me now, so the grudge apparently wasn't permanent.

... in my experience, is when they openly resent people with higher education.

"Oooh... la dee da! My neighbor said he had a PhD in history!"

Well, at the factories that I've worked at anyway. Many of them seem proud of their poor educations, or they're very insecure about it.

It's a sad state of affairs when some people are more concerned about their perceived STATUS than actually trying to learn something. Curiosity doesn't seem to be a strong motivation for most of them.

By the way, I had no intention of getting the coworker so angry at me over the Revolutionary War taxation issue. I was treating him how I'd treat myself, thinking that he'd actually appreciate being better informed. And I was nice enough to tell him how he could find counter-examples to his wrong statement. But that was me "Not listening!" to him in his strange (to me) mind.