Many dataviz people are like this, and it comes off odd. Awhile back, there was an entire 'Bar Barplots' movement, with exactly the same argument. Same for Pie Charts vs Donut charts ('angle shouldn't encode magnitude!').

The marriage of stats and design can bring the worst from both.

(And even if you find that plot X is bad, that doesn't mean you need to treat it as a personality trait.)