I think that you are drawing these people to you Alex, so you can dispense some common sense and truth, to provide them with an alternate view that has some substance behind it, compared to what appears to be wishful, fanciful thinking.
You will likely never convert them, but at least you put a marker in the ground.
What really worries me, is how widespread and entrenched this wishful, fanciful thinking has become.
What has "gone wrong" on such a massive scale?
Cheers
Dennis