I hear your frustration. It does indeed sound like your case is completely different from the article in two big ways. First, as you’ve noted, you aren’t whoeve

I hear your frustration. It does indeed sound like your case is completely different from the article in two big ways. First, as you’ve noted, you aren’t whoever you are standing up for, and so knowing you doesn’t change people opinion of the other. Secondly, it sounds like you are trying really hard to convince them, and failing. The man in the article was not trying to convince at all at first, but rather to understand. Oddly enough, working hard to understand someone else is one of the first steps to their allowing themselves room to understand your views.