I'm not absolving him of his opinions by any means. I was just pointing out that he's been elevated to this status where he can't (won't? is unwilling to?) do what most other reasonable people would have done if they were asked this question. He could've just said, "that's a really interesting question and I don't have an answer" but instead it appears he's compelled to answer with a lot of verbiage and little actual content.
I wouldn't go quite so far as to absolve him for his opinions due to social pressure, but there is truth in what you say.