Explain how the Mars One people are getting there, and with what funding, and I'll stop calling it a scam.
You're missing the point. Nothing gets done if people don't just start doing it.
I would agree with your basic sentiment, but my problem with Mars One and the guys trying to do this is that they are biting off far more than they can chew by going to Mars in the first place. If the goal is to get people into space, they should start out by simply getting private individuals into space (including some of these "candidates"). It is proven technology, where flight slots are definitely available for a proven price (currently about $50 million per seat) and a whole lot of eye candy and places to film in even exotic locations like Star City, Russia to show what it is like to go into space.
Yeah, lets do this thing, but do it on a reasonable level first before you decide to bite big and try to do something that all of the largest spacefaring countries of the world combined simply can't do right now. It can be done on a bite sized basis where these producers could earn some credibility before going to Mars.
Mars One most definitely haven't done that.
These guys definitely deserve to be heckled right now as there are basic questions even related to the physics of how they plan on accomplishing this thing they propose, much less trying to work out how they plan on getting it financed with fanciful scam artist style projections of future income that is most definitely not proven.