Reply #4: Nice rant.

[necso]

Willful blindness and willful ignorance play a large role in our problems. And so does some people's need to cling to various illusions about themselves, their world and their role in it. (And for republicans, illusions about their party deserve specific mention.)

However, I think that one should also recognize the roles that other factors play, such as fear, nearly ubiquitous reinforcement of people's misconceptions by the marketing machine (including materialism and "entertainment" as "culture" -- or as a sustainable lifestyle (a little actual thought turns out to be necessary)) and the pronounced tendency of our culture towards intellectual laziness and inertia (TV looms huge here).

It is as much (or more) basic human weaknesses (eg, fear, the desire for self-gratification) as it is more complex forms (of human weakness) like pride (which willful blindness and ignorance are forms -- or perhaps symptoms -- of).