^I think that's the biggest reason for the whole current attitude: Monsanto started pissing off the world with their patent suits, your average layperson only heard "ooo, Monsanto is so bad with their GMOs!", and made the "GMO=evil" connection, which of course, is happily supported by any number of keyboard and YouTube warriors with an axe to grind, a tinfoil hat to polish, or just a desire to troll as many people as possible.
BTW, here are some of Monsanto's legal shenanigans detailed:
http://www.techdirt.com/search-g.php?q=monsanto