Once someone has come to believe something that is presented with the trappings of science, and packaged with the message that it's forbidden information that the rest of society and its structures can't cope with, only sufficiently individualistic and smart people can... well, mostly they end up in a cycle of alienating the normies around them and therefore seeking further social connection in online groups that reinforce the belief system. And then you have the problem of persuading someone who's seen thousands of pieces of 'evidence' over years, which they probably can't remember the specifics of and never looked into themselves, but they saw SO MANY that the debunking of any specific one is easily dismissed.

In my family it's just alternative medicine, but it seems to work the same way.

basic projection

a defence mechanism

projection per se is a relatively straightforward mechanism in which unpalatable impulses, feelings and parts of the self are projected out and onto others.

simple format, projecting unacceptable parts of self onto other people

Projecting your very low IQ onto other people, when it is you with the low IQ.

Projecting your self hatred onto other races or those deemed different, when it is yourself that you hate.