I don't expect an answer. But it wasn't a rhetorical question. It's along the lines of "If you disagree with me or have evidence proving otherwise please offer it. I don't think you have such evidence but I am open to hearing it."
This is very unlike Your post which is full of malice. Yeah let's talk about our academic circles. I offer mine freely: UCLA. Not that great of a school honestly. It also depends on which department your in.
Now yours: UC Santa Barbara. You never offered it, yet I know it. So how smart is your academic bubble? I feel if it was bigger you'd be smarter about how you approach strangers on the internet. If you approach with malice, they can return your query with equal malice... or greater. Sometimes far greater.