I believe that one major reason why people are intimidated by math could actually be the fact that some math geeks are horrendously arrogant and condescending;
I see this kind of behaviour on math videos on YouTube all the time, and it's usually something like "lol it's easy, who cannot solve this?!", "what morons couldn't solve this?! I solved it in one minute" and other crap like that.
I find this kind of behaviour completely unacceptable, and I regularly argue with them and try to teach them some normal manners, like for example respecting those who find math difficult and trying to understand them, and possibly even teaching them math, step by step.
That's what I have done to people who have got stuck in Algebra because they didn't grasp certain things in Arithmetic, and that's a hell of a lot more rewarding for everyone involved.
And I would say that that's a much smarter decision than just acting like some arrogant prick and making fun of those who struggle with math.