Apparently, he knew that they had come seeking the outward sign of forgiveness without the difficult cleansing brought through repentance. He attacked their attitude, calling them a bunch of snakes. I'm not sure that I can, with Luke, describe such a message as good news, but it would be good news if our present day world would take it to heart. I don't know if you noticed it or not, but we have entered an age when nobody ever seems to do anything wrong. My wife teaches school.
Adults are usually more subtle.
It was our circumstances. We blame anything and anyone from our parents to our economic condition. John would certainly have us stoop a little lower than that. John wasn't interested in excuses. I once read about a young man named Jones who had an argument with his girlfriend outside a movie theater in a small town in Minnesota.