[082349872349872]

I'd guess it's because anoraks/botanics/intellos/Geeks/geeks are pretty familiar with low-subculture-on-the-totem-pole becoming a unifying scapegoat, so it's an appealing idée fixe. (or is that merely recapitulating what you just said?)

On the other hand, I've been in the tech scene for nearly 4 decades, and this discussion is the first time I've encountered Girard (at least that I remember).