Seems to me like a classic argument of the Optimist vs the Pessimist, with the Realist stuck somewhere in the middle.
I think it doesn't make the Optimists look good to see illogical arguments used to try and sway folks to their way of thinking. Genetics certainly CAN play into fertility in any number of ways from hormonal production to physical deformities of the reproductive organs that we might not ever see from the outside. And it doesn't make much sense to suggest that so many breeders are being successful and keeping it a secret just for profit's sake. Doesn't make sense at all.
I don't need those kinds of arguments to still be an optimist. If I were in a position to do so, I'd be glad to have a female desert in my collection and plans to work with her over the long term to see what might happen. I'm hopelessly and eternally optimistic about stuff like that.
All the doomsayer arguments don't matter to me...but on the flipside, I don't feel any compelling need to convince anyone else to have "hope" for desert females.
Folks, by nature, will believe what they want to believe. Us optimists still hold out hope, however illogical that may seem to some. Pessimists have given up altogether and are convinced that no good will come of desert females, however illogical that stance may be as well. The Realists do a better job of weighing the evidence before them, and I can understand that the evidence, as it is currently being presented, weighs heavily against the girls being viably productive.
I think a large part of my optimism comes from the fact that I don't believe the evidence, as it is currently argued on typical internet forums, is particularly accurate. It's exaggerated and full of hyperbole as rumors and "statistics" get passed along as absolute fact, when the truth is no one really knows. BUT...that's just my personal little inner picture of how all this is playing out. What others make of it is entirely up to them and doesn't bother me a bit.