You do raise a good point about selling the sizzle. On the other hand, you can't underestimate the effect even the possibility of earning can have on bringing people to this platform. The pathway of appreciation I most see people writing about is that they first came for the money, but then came to value these other benefits as well. I'm not sure that those other benefits would be enough by themselves to bring them over specifically to Steemit. I could be wrong, though.
People who do come here do need to have realistic expectations, which is that you make money here pretty much the same way you do anywhere else on the Internet.