I wouldn't be so sure that the (original) Bitcoin people are running a pump-and-dump scam - there is very little evidence either way. And there are plenty of people who genuinely seem to believe that Twitter causes and/or wins revolutions: love of technology, libertarianism and something we'll call optimism do occur together, and cypherpunks are not the least vulnerable.
To be clear: I think that some people really do believe that Bitcoin is going to overthrow the monetary system and free us all from the evil government. I also think that quite a few more people believe that Bitcoin can only go up (designed for deflation, right?)
"Bitcoin is a scam" is simply not enough to explain stuff from the Bitcoin bulletin to open source GPU mining software - hard work by obviously capable people, and not even remotely the most effective way to become rich.
Mind you, I think the "true believers" are incorrect, sometimes naive and occasionally downright stupid; but declaring them "evil" leaves quite a few unanswered questions. [EDIT: Even if the speculators are probably in the majority.]
(Also, I wouldn't be surprised if EVE had a foostone contract future market...)
EDIT: also, there was nothing wrong with the system design. A bit uninspired, maybe; current research involves zero-knowledge exchanges and the like.
The people that recommended Madoff's fund to their family and friends were probably well intentioned too. And the fund probably wasn't a Ponzi scheme from the beginning either but in the end a scam is a scam.
