The rationalizations that accompany cognitive dissonance are pervasive and persistent. Once an opinion is formed and particularly after it is shared with others it becomes very difficult to change. The typical response is to find ways to explain away inconsistencies and contradictory evidence.
"...our innate ability to believe our own lies-which are often concocted after the fact, to suit our convenience. And if we believe our own lies, there's little wonder that we so often believe the lies of others, especially if it is advantageous for us to do so or if they embody notions, however implausible, that we want to believe. Such self-deception provides a sort of social feedback that leads to bodies of myth, which in turn amplify the resulting behaviors-and on which, even more destructively, so many established beliefs and behavioral conventions are based..."
- Ian Tattersall
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