Asshole or not, Linus is a role model for many. I bet a throwaway comment he makes about $EDITOR would change the preferred value for tens of people.

How many people who have never touched kernel source vaguely follow his antics?

I agree with you.

Too many people have opinions about too many things.

In regards to COVID the folks managing the response are encouraging it. They’re using influencers and celebrities to “echo” their messages.

Heaven forbid we leave the influencers out of the loop and just go to the CDCs website.

Some people care about what Linus thinks about COVID. That terrifies me.

It doesn't really take a rocket scientist to understand why people care about what Linus says on 'Hacker News'

I wouldn't actually care what a rocket scientist has to say about mRNA vaccines either.