This article talks about an interesting observation, that the behavior of people exposed to Perl (or any programming language for that matter) tends to be affected by it. I think there might be something to it.
They do stuff... cool stuff... even lispy stuff... but they remain practical and relatively humble. The TMTOWTDI philosophy seems to have hardwired a certain degree of open mindedness in them-- they just don't appear to be as arrogant or argumentitive in the usual internet wars. Just an impression, YMMV, etc....
I think you are spot-on here.