Please, stop hating!

Calling yourself a polyglot isn't claiming some sort of unearned prestige. 

Anyone who knows more than 3 languages, can call themselves a polyglot, because that is the correct term of these people. 

There are no requirements or formal tests.

The only quality required is that one is OK using this language. 

One doesn't need to have a perfect accent, one doesn't need to be fluent, one doesn't need to be able to read and write, one doesn't need to not make any mistakes or not search for words. One doesn't need to be perfect or be mistaken for a Native speaker to pass. 

It really is very subjective. 

If YOU think you can speak a language, then YOU do speak it, and if you think you speak several languages, then you ARE a polyglot, and can flaunt it as much as you want to. 

And I just say "Congratulations!" 

Because that's what you are worth. 

And it doesn't matter if you "got those languages for free". 

What matters is that you know those languages.

I call myself trilingual, because I consider myself fluent in only three languages. Finnish, Swedish and English.
But I can read books in French. Some people would say they know French, too. I don't, because I couldn't write this blog in French.
I know more German than French. So - I could add German to my list as well.
I know more Norwegian and Danish than German, and not only because they are very like Swedish.
I understand Spanish and Italian.
I can count to 10 in several languages, and say the common things like "thank you" and "I love you", in a lot of languages. I COULD make a "watch a polyglot count to 10 in several languages" which would last quite a long time. because I can count to 10 in quite a lot of languages. :-D

Now, becoming a YouTube celebrity because you know (or claim to know) several languages is a lot more deserved than becoming a YouTube celebrity because you do stupid stuff or say nasty things about other people or show videos about animals and/or people getting hurt and think it's funny.
(Yes, for example, a cat slips on an icy car and falls. Most of AFV videos. People using gym equipment wrong. I mean... yes, it's amusing, but the risk of getting injured like that is very high, and there should be someone at the gym stopping people from doing that. It would be better if you went to help instead of videotaping the event. Also, it's not OK to videotape people at a gym.)

Then the "polyglot gurus". I haven't met anyone who has named himself that. I have yet to meet the "self-appointed polyglot guru". 

Now, calling oneself a polyglot isn't appointing oneself a guru. It's the exact proper term and name to call anyone who speaks more than 3 languages. So, even if you claim to speak 57 languages, but in reality only speak 5, then you ARE a polyglot.
It might be self-aggrandizing to claim to be able to speak over 10 languages, when one isn't, but it isn't if one does speak over 10 languages. Then it's just the truth.

There's nothing wrong with being proud of being able to use several languages, nothing shameful, nothing one needs to be quiet about. It's a great ability, and it doesn't matter why and how one gained that ability.

So, a lot of the hate comes from how people perceive these people, not how they present themselves. I mean, a lot of "polyglot gurus" don't even call themselves polyglots.

There are people who hate anyone who claims being able to speak several languages. They think these people are showing off, prideful, full of themselves, bragging... so what? Being able to speak several language IS worth showing off, it IS something to be proud of and worth bragging. You are just jealous and should get something worth bragging about instead of hating others.

Learning a couple of languages is one of the easiest ways of getting something worth bragging about. If that "internet idiot" can do that, you can do that. ALMOST EVERYONE ON THIS PLANET SPEAKS A LANGUAGE. If you can learn one, you can learn two, three, 27, 115, what ever. (Now, if you have learned 27 or 115 languages, you probably have forgotten most of the most of them, but what does that matter?)

Then, the motivation. No, you don't need to want to communicate with people to learn a language. ANY reason to learn a language is a good reason.
If you learn 10 languages just to brag, good!
If you learn 10 languages because that one guy does that, good!
If you learn 10 languages just because you can, good!
If you learn 4 languages just to be able to read the Bible in original language, good!
If you learn another language just to be able to understand what the minority people speak behind your back, good!
If you learn another language because your great-great-great-grandmother came from Hungary, good!
You learn a language because you love K-pop. Good!
I mean, ANY reason to learn a language is a good reason. You can't hurt anyone by learning a language.
(Now, what you do with that language after you learned it, that's a different story. Language is a very powerful thing and can be used to hurt people, even a lot of people. Frankly, all genocides were caused by language.)

So if you learn 10 languages just to be a member of the "exclusive polyglot club", good.
Frankly, it isn't that exclusive. It accepts anyone who speaks more than 3 languages :-D

There's nothing wrong with "showing off" that you can speak several languages. It's a good quality. It's a desirable quality. It IS something to show off, be proud off, flaunt and make videos about. 

Making videos about "look at this guy who thinks he is so cool when he's not" and "look at that fat chick how disgusting she is" isn't. Or "look at this cat getting hurt, how funny". 

I'd rather watch some polyglots talking about how they study languages, about all their languages, why they studied this language or that, about their experiences in this country or that, or just chatting with their polyglot friends in several languages.

Or Saara speaking gobbledygook :-D