I was reared in a liberal (at times *hard* liberal) home, and live in a very liberal area. (Seattle has a statue of LENIN.) As a child I was indoctrinated in atheism/agnosticism/marx, but I found too many things that did not add up, so I rejected those teachings. I became a conservative, much to my grandmother’s horror. I did find the whole process quite enlightening in regards to insight into human pyschology.
One thing I have observed, there is a real shallowness of character among liberals, especially the more radical ones. Their entire self-image is so caught up in the liberal ideologies espoused, that to question them is destabilizing to their id (for want of a better word). Think the android Norman from the original Star Trek. (and you thought the colloquialism of blowing a gasket were just words. 
)
The reason your former “friends” attacked when they read your book detailing your research and enlightenment is that it *did* threaten to destabilize their id, only they weren’t ready to question whether *what* they were espousing was rational let alone OBJECTIVE FACT. So they behaved much like an animal – when it’s afraid, it attacks. Same concept. Rationality has no part of it. Hopefully, one day, they will develop the humility (not the same as humiliation) and self-confidence to question their beliefs in a rational and objective manner. Such is the beginning of wisdom.
