But yes, I would trust their opinions because they... (snip)
...do for a living what we consider a hobby / past-time (or obsession, apparently)
They really, really don't. What they do is much more demanding, complicated and difficult, but it is also completely different. Would you take a truck driver's advice on which small car to buy if he had no experience of it? Or an android app developer's advice on writing safety-critical control systems for, say nuclear power stations?
Having said that, I don't think any minds are going to be changed on either side here. No problem with that, we all make our own judgements about what is safe and what is fun and where the two meet. Doesn't have to be the same place for everyone, but on a forum like this, you are really going to struggle to persuade anyone that microlights/LSA are less safe than group A