E. Nigma wrote: “They think they know, but in truth they don’t have any idea.”

Yes. And they are stubbornly resistant to any information which might give them understanding. Everything is interpreted in such a way as to buttress pre-existing beliefs.

In a sense, all of us are like this. We see the world through filters we find appealing. But with some of those people it’s at a dramatic, even pathological level.

I’m seeing something similar unfold, again, as I watch the left-wing media and blogosphere. The dominant explanation of the unfavorable change in the polls in recent days centers around such things as “most americans are stupid”, “the MSM supports the conservatives”, “Rove’s dirty tricks and lies.”

Amidst all of this none of them are asking with any sincerity, “What are we doing wrong?” There’s not question of strategy, no desire to question the current direction, all failures are explained as being the result of the idiocy of the electorate and the deceptiveness of the opponent. They’re wrapped in a narrative that says, essentially, “we are smart and we are moral, and that is why we suffer.” Beyond being wrong, it’s amazing how utterly destructive such a viewpoint is to one’s soul. Reminds me of Martin Seligman’s “Learned Helplessness.”