Ann said:
Those who are selfishly, for their own benefit, defending PA regardless of the hurt PA has and will do to others.
They may be well-and-truly fooled, right down to the soles of their socks.
You'll find folks who are really and sincerely convinced in the real existence of space aliens flying UFOs, that the moon landings never took place, that the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion are an authentic plan by the Jews to take over the world, that Hitler escaped from to Argentina, that any number of cheap and simple (or incredibly expensive) things cure baldness, impotence, obesity, or cancer, that if the roulette wheel hit black the last three times that it's more likely to hit red on this spin, and any number of other astounding things.
They aren't necessarily stupid people (or stipid, either) or particularly different from any of us. There are several strong psychological reasons for PAers to continue their belief system, regardless of the proofs to the contrary. There's a lot of self-image involved.
Appeals to ego, appeals to vanity, appeals to greed, appeals to pride, appeals to sympathy, appeals to hope, appeals to despair ... the folks running PA have a heady brew. I'm not going to blame their victims.