I would just like to say as an American, we do not fear intelligence. Itās just that the Intellectual population is not as loud (or as entertain for media) so we donāt stand out.
As for sciencist being bad. I think it steams from the ability to seek control over the laws of Nature, that most people ( especially those who are religiously inclind) find to be disturbing. On top of that I can name two āscienceā experiments that took place in the US that went horribly wrong. One of which was covered in the news during the time and nearly caused the psychologist to lose his job.
The Standford Prison experment by Psychologists Philip Zimbardo (IDK if I spelled that right) , was a social experiment that went wrong. After the participants started to aduse eachother and become violent Zimbardo refused to call off the experiment for a very long time. The participants where locked in a facility that mimiced the social structure of a prision and left to their own devices, and it didnāt end well.
Another example is the Tuskeegee Expermint. A āclinicalā study that studied the effects of untreated syphillus. The participants that had the desies where never told that they did and after it was discovered that penicillin shots could treat it, those infected where not given treatment. This experiment exploited a poor black community that was not able to afford healthcare by promissing them free healthcare in return for taking part in the study.
Both these experiments are common knowledge amongst alot of people in America and probably leaves a bad taste in the mouth when it comes to science and what itās willing to do to gain knowledge.