If the reasons are strong enough, a person can bring himself to do anything, no matter how unpleasant. It's not impossible, it's just highly improbable. Curiosity is a normal and healthy human emotion. Curiosity is a painful disease. Don't let thinking interfere with your hangups.
Arguments are a waste of time unless they're fun.
Two hundred parsecs mean little in the size of the galaxy. The art of story telling must be nearly as old as humanity itself. Some things are to hard to believe, however entertaining they might be to hear or read. Human beings are prone to believe the things they wish were true. Being inteligent does not mean that one's emotion are any the less powerfull.