Part of what may be going on is a distrust of abstract reasoning. The absurdity heuristic seems to us to be a relatively direct and reliable indicator, while indirect abstract reasoning seems more susceptible to reasoning errors and overconfidence. And of course we all prefer the indicators that we are better at—those who are bad at abstract reasoning will therefore downgrade it.
Part of what may be going on is a distrust of abstract reasoning. The absurdity heuristic seems to us to be a relatively direct and reliable indicator, while indirect abstract reasoning seems more susceptible to reasoning errors and overconfidence. And of course we all prefer the indicators that we are better at—those who are bad at abstract reasoning will therefore downgrade it.