I'd much rather visit an asteroid than Mars, so I agree with you there - but I think there are other ways that Mars may become attractive to settlers - especially those who want to escape tyranny on Earth. If a settlement starts and survives, then whoever gets there and participates is literally building a new civilization from scratch. I think you might be a little naive in thinking there aren't a large number of willing people who want to do that, no matter the personal cost. There's a lot of potential.