Doesn't really mean they should proudly talk about scientific subjects like they really know their stuff when they mostly don't know the things you'd learn from first chapters of your first science book, does it?

It's not like this is only related to Covid. You can see people "doing their own research" on climate change as well, without knowing the basics of science, physics, systems science or actual climate science, but they've watched a podcast or read a blog. Covid just made this bro science stuff so mainstream that it's hard to have a beer in a bar without hearing about it.