Yea, I definitely understand what you are saying. I dont get those people either. Its frustrating and even heartbreaking because they are so misled–but are also so easily “misleadable”. Its hard to not fault them for it; its hard not to call them dumb.
I guess historically we called those people “suckers” or “rubes” – which still may not accurately reflect that they can be very smart people (or even critical thinkers) in most other aspects.