"Most of the people who argue against it, in my experience, are not interested in learning about it, but to denigrate it through specious arguments and mischaracterization."

You've nailed it. There are idiots in every group. There are plenty of stupid people who just happen to believe in evolution. Some of these stupid people might blindly attack anyone who disagrees with evolution.

But the VAST majority of the criticism of anti-evolutionists is not directed at their disagreement. Dissenters are not lambasted by the scientific community for dissenting or for questioning. They're lambasted because they usually make idiotic assertions that demonstrate they haven't done the least bit of real homework on the subject.