I doubt it's a failure to imagine other lives. I think it's probably deliberately appealing to people who are miserable and feel helpless to change their lives

I doubt it's a failure to imagine other lives. I think it's probably deliberately appealing to people who are miserable and feel helpless to change their lives by, say, leaving their city for a rural life. Not that it's helping them, but it's addressing them. The reasons why it's impossible to move to a rural area and be done with it are left unstated.