This is not just an online thing. I'll do you one better.
My job involves, unfortunately, sometimes dealing with people. As much as I'd like to stay in my IT dungeon and remain undisturbed all day, I sometimes do have to emerge into the sunlight and interact with business clients.
Different people's brains are wired in different ways, not necessarily the same as yours. Based on my totally unscientific observation, it feels like roughly 1 in 5 people cannot comprehend hypotheticals at all. You can't ask them "picture this, but instead like this" because their brains literally can't form that image. If it is not an object or situation that is either in front of them, can be shown to them (on a screen, on a document, or whatever), or is one they have had personal and very specific past experience with, it's lost on them. Even if the hypothetical you're describing is barely any different from something you're physically showing them right now, except some trivial detail, they can't wrap their heads around it. You can break it down, you can explain it step-by-step until you're blue in the face. It doesn't work. As soon as you get to the last element, the hypothetical one, they tune out instantly.
And in my further experience around half of people in this camp will become confused and they'll handle that by getting angry at you.
I'm not a brainologist so I don't know why this is, or if there's a clinical name or mechanism behind it, or if it's abnormal and my industry just attracts devastatingly uncreative and stupid people. So in absence of any other information I'm just blaming lead paint and Boomerism.
