Since the thread continues listing in this direction, I'll note that very sadly, this is far far from an only-in-Lakewood issue.Jim O'Bryan wrote:How is wanting the truth, bad?
Only in Lakewood.
Vox has an informative essay up about the larger issue of "tribal epistemology," although it's nearly 40,000 words. But the summary version is that our biological tendency to prefer that our beliefs be reinforced, rather than challenged, is being intensified by a variety of cultural factors.
The result is not simply bias, or cherry-picking facts, but outright rejecting belief in any objective authority whatsoever. Any kind of common resource inevitably loses credibility; unless it's actively and reliably promoting the "team" agenda, it's regarded as "the enemy." Thus we see disengagement from common forums in favor of dedicated partisan replacements, whether TV networks, online encyclopedias, or Facebook groups.
Mostly, this doesn't seem to preclude clinging to the idea of a broader community—but that idea is detached from reality and remapped to "the team." The team is indistinguishable from e.g. "the real America," and people who don't support the team become resented as interlopers. Once you redefine the community as synonymous with your team, meanwhile, anyone who opposes your team obviously "hates" the community.
…
Or, if all this is still tl;dr, the really short answer to "how can someone not understand" questions is probably this quote from a related article:
“I just choose to not listen.”
