And really are we any different? Any YC entrepreneur should know how to cold call, and the only way to bring yourself to do it is to believe in your heart that the person you're calling really will be happier with the information you provide, delighted that you called, so you aren't interrupting them at all.
Picture a scummy 20 year old college guy who chases what he wants without considering that the other side has no interest.
"Ask first? Why? They want it. Even if they say they don't, subconsciously, they really do. I'm different, once they get it, they'll see."
The narrative in marketing circles focuses "content" and "engagement" and all kinds of gymnastic descriptors that omit the sections of reality where the answer is "no" and stays no regardless of further pleas. That version of reality doesn't make any money, and so there is no incentive to acknowledge it.
Upton Sinclair nailed it: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it"