Here on Reddit, particularly the conspiracy-related sphere of influence, there are some that view most of these contrarians as paid shills. While it may or may not be a correct assumption in many cases, I've met a few people in my life that held the same views towards conspiracy theories. Stubborn in their refusal of thought experiments.

I can't say it's the case for all of them but I propose these people often come from religious backgrounds; In that they were raised by a religious family/went to a religious school, and may reject religion entirely as a result. In their search to replace religious belief, they found science.

As a result of their upbringing, they have a resentful attitude towards religious people (particularly Christians) and have almost an obsession with science. To them, anything they perceive as not founded in the scientific method is equivalent to religious belief. In a way, Science has become their faith, and they begin to resemble the very people they hate by treating those they disagree with as 'Heathens' aka "Anti-Science".

Perhaps I'm only describing a very small sample size and there are many other factors. But personal experience has me convinced these people do exist on Reddit in some capacity.

Even though I don't believe in a great deal of them, I think conspiracy theories are important because, imho you can never be overly critical of Government. 'Keep them on their toes' so to speak. Otherwise, they are strictly entertainment for me, and I can't fathom how even the most outlandish ones cause such an infuriate reaction by 'anti-conspiracy theorists'.