Most people would crawl over a mile of broken glass to avoid a perceived drop in status. Actual integrity is, sadly, quite rare.
That's why the SJW attacks were so effective. They accuse not only the people opposing their bullshit, but also anybody who might be in a five mile radius thinking of asking questions that stray from the narrative. Gosh, gee, anon, critical thinking and evaluating claims? That's like calling a rape victim a liar! Most people don't want a bar of shit flinging like that and will just sidle over to whatever side sounds the most virtuous on surface value. Worst case scenario, they have to apologise and claim they were trying to do the right thing. Boom, no status lost.
As for intelligent people that you respect doing this, well even people that you respect are still people. So they're not infallible and they'll do shitty things.