Almost everything you say is completely on target here, but this isn't.

When a group is vehemently blocking needed progress, occasionally--after you've made every reasonable argument and explained patiently over and over and over again--sometimes people are so intransigent that using social manipulation (like "attacking people") is necessary to avoid having them muck up the world for everyone else.

If people feel belittled and embarrassed, they tend to refrain a bit from sticking their ignorance into places it doesn't belong...and if they do anyway, people who are less informed don't bother paying much attention to them.

I very much prefer to not operate in this regime, because in the long run leaving a portion of your population ignorant, angry, and embarrassed is far from an ideal state of affairs. But sometimes the stakes are very high and the evidence is very clear and waiting for consensus forever will lead to a degree of inaction that will cause disaster.