Have you ever noticed that the less you care about getting other people's respect, the easier it is to get it? Like, it's certainly possible to try really hard to impress somebody and finally do it, but the guy with the tattoo of Batman riding a bear got the same results without working nearly as hard.
So, with that in mind, I'm not sure who these people were trying to win over (if anyone), but they can count us as members of their fan clubs.