Al derech ze, the famous line "you're not a Kofer, you're an am ha'aretz"
Not exactly, and might sound a little condescending.
There was a group of highly intellectual bochurim who went OTD (to various degrees). כז אדר \ ג תמוז might have been part of the trigger or facilitator, but there were definitely other factors. At least one of them (son of a neighbor of mine) is somewhat attached, and has been seen around more often in recent years. IINM they all did drugs to a certain extent at some point.
That brings to mind another highly intellectual classmate of mine (from Morristown) who went OTD, I see him in Crown Heights rarely, and don't really know what his status is.
And then there's another one who used to stand right next to me at the Rebbe's farbrengens, had a phenomenal head and memory, and used to do חזרה of the farbrengens in great detail. He went OTD after he was married.
By no stretch of the imagination would I call any of the above an עם-הארץ, these guys were all top of the class, both in נגלה and חסידות! However, I really don't think it was an intellectual trigger that caused any of the above to go OTD. While none of us knows what's in people's minds, especially in the last case I mentioned, I believe he just succumbed to his תאוות.