I think that what you experienced on those chats was the result of people's overall negative feeling. When we feel like things aren't good, you can list 100 pieces of positive news and it won't make one solitary bit of difference.

We like to think of ourselves as rational beings with emotions. The truth is that we're emotional beings who can rationalize.

So, if my emotions are down and you bring up facts that show I "shouldn't" feel down, I'll find ways to rationalize why it "makes sense" to feel down despite the facts you list.