A frustration on our side are the people, who should be on our side, but continue to believe things that are obviously untrue. For example, we see new evidence against the alleged benefits of immigration, but most Americans still worship immigrants like they are magic talismans. Show some principled conservatives a video from a naturalization ceremony, featuring bearded Muslims and those principles conservatives will burst into celebratory tears of joy.

What makes this more frustrating is that you could sit down with these people, explain the facts of immigration to them, and they will nod along in agreement. Then, an hour later they will say something stupid like “we need these workers to do the jobs Americans won’t do!” Generations of propaganda about open borders play a role, but a bigger part is that it is just easier to stick with the familiar opinions. Once you arrive at an opinion on some subject, changing it is not easy.

This is not just something that happens with the hoi polloi. The intelligentsia suffer from it more than normal people. Steve Sailer often notes how supposedly smart people in the human sciences fall for old fallacies about genetic group differences. Here is an example from a while back. Eric Turkheimer is a smart enough guy to know he is wrong, but it is easy to be wrong. There is also a social benefit to remaining wrong, so he stays in the easy chair of egalitarian ignorance.

Greg Cochran puzzles over this stuff in the field of medical research, about which he knows a great deal. His idea that pathogens may be the root cause of things like Alzheimer’s is a revolutionary idea that is universal rejected by science, despite some promising evidence in the case of Alzheimer’s disease. Cochran remains puzzled by this, but the answer is the same as with group genetic difference. It is simply easier and safer to believe the old ideas.

There seems to be something baked into the human consciousness that rejects empiricism, even for people in empirical fields. Mystery is more interesting than certainty, superstition is more inspiring than materialism. A famous example of this is how medicine initially responded to the Spanish Flu. Despite germ theory being established science, many doctors still thought the cause was miasmas that came from burning human waste.

One obvious cause is that when everyone believes something, or people assume everyone believes something, it is assumed to be correct. This is human nature, which is why propaganda is such a big part of our lives. Our rulers flood the zone with one set of opinions, in an effort to drive out all others, so that people will assume everyone accepts the official dogma. It’s why every TV ad features race mixers. There can be but one opinion, the approved opinion.

There are practical considerations, as well. If you are in politics, there is no upside to pointing out to your liberal colleagues that open borders are suicide. Bernie Sanders is not a bright man, but even he understands the laws of supply and demand apply to labor markets. He will enthusiastically support the Puerto Rican bimbo running on a mix of open borders and universal free stuff. There’s no obvious benefit to pointing out that this woman is as dumb as a gold fish, so they nod along with her.

When even people in difficult STEM fields virtue signal on nonsense like racism, there is more than practical necessity at play. Paige Harden is a smart women working in a field compiling mountains of evidence contradicting the progressive narrative, but she will stick with the narrative, because everyone she knows believes it. If she gets her way, brown people will be squatting in the burned-out husk of her lab, as society will have reverted to their natural state.

It is an important thing for outsider movements to keep in mind when thinking about how to approach the other side. The normie in the tricorn hat hooting about the constitution is not amenable to facts and reason. He is in a comfortable place that lets him feel morally superior to lefty, while embracing progressive morality. You turn him to the dark side by making that place uncomfortable for him. It is why mockery and humor are powerful weapons of outsider movements.

It is also why various forms of socialism persist, despite the monstrous failures at implementing them and the mountain of evidence contrary to the theory. The appeal of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is that going along with her is easy and fun. The media and all of the beautiful people are celebrating her. She is like a viral video that everyone feels they need to see. Socialism has always that desire to feel that something better must lie ahead..

Barak Obama was the definition of an empty suit. He managed to make John Kerry seem complex. Yet, millions of white people showed up to vote, crying as they pulled the lever, believing they were about to experience the rapture. Obama was obviously a feckless ninny, but it was easier to believe he was the messiah, so most people went along with supporting him. It turns out that the most effective movements are the ones that make it easiest for people to accept things that are obviously untrue.