What he means (I think) is that it's only a surface understanding. You won't be able to hold your own in a serious conversation with experts on the topic.
Why would/should one be mocked and humiliated for not being able to hold their own in a serious conversation with experts on some topic?
If I want to learn about a topic, wikipedia is great. If I need more information, I can look elsewhere but many times I don't need to. And except for maybe a handful of topics, I shouldn't expect to be able to seriously converse with an expert. Why should that be the goal? I think the goal is to find the answer to your questions, and that's it.
