"proselytizing acts only as an irritant"
because the proselytizer, by definition, always assumes his victim is ignorant.
And the proselytized know perfectly well they are being patronized by someone so insecure of their convictions that they feel the need to convince perfect strangers of them.
Proselytizing is not just annoying, it is insulting, and the proselytizers are always too dense to figure that out on their own.