Reddit mentions of The Unpersuadables: Adventures wiith the Enemies of Science

People are incredibly good at justifying their beliefs and actions.

People are masters of saying, I'm not X, I'm just X-1. "I'm not an alcoholic; I'm just a guy who likes a fifth of scotch with breakfast." "I'm not a wife beater; that bitch just needs to learn some respect." "I'm not a sexist, I just think neuroscience proves men are better."

The reasoning starts something like this: A "racist" is a monster, and I'm not a monster, so I'm not racist. And if I'm not a racist, then there must be some other reason why I believe these things. Maybe I'll claim to hate everyone equally. Maybe I'll rely on religion. Maybe I'll say I truly believe in separate but equal.

There's a reason racist forums spend so much time posting about "evidence" that supports their beliefs. They feel that if they can "prove" it, then they're just realists, not racists. (Conversely, you'll notice that /r/biology doesn't spend an inordinate amount of time posting evidence that genes are the main mode of inheritance. They believe it, but they're don't need to be defensive about it.)

So, yeah, there might be some people on there who think of themselves as "racist", but I'm guessing most of them would say they are not.

If you want to learn more about how we trick ourselves about our beliefs, I would recommend The Unpersuadables and Thinking, Fast and Slow.

We just did. And now...? Cricket noises.

Listen, absolutely nothing is going to convince you this is real at this point. You've obviously got some kind of weird investment in your conspiracy theory. So I'm not here to change your mind. I'm here to watch a fascinating case study in Unpersuadables.

I'd suggest the people in this thread read The Unpersuadables by Will Storr. The author talks to a number of well-meaning, smart people who believe in all kinds of crazy ideas--UFOs, holocaust denial, homeopathy, and yes, creationism. It's really easy to make fun of people who believe stuff that's obviously not true (I know, because I do it all the time), but it might be better to try to understand them, the way that Storr does in his book. He also talks to some neurologists and psychologists who agree with the ideas presented in the OP--that we come to our beliefs (whatever they are), and if we're really smart, we can perform all kinds of mental backflips to rationalize them. Maybe you and I are smart enough that we figured out that evolution is true--or maybe we're just lucky that our upbringing and education placed us on the right side to begin with.

Before we get too cocky, it's best to remember that the odds are seriously stacked against the possibility that any of us is absolutely right about everything we believe.