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Greta Thunberg is an excellent campaigner. You may have noticed a sudden spate of commentators condemning her, or trying to discredit her stance. Why would they do this, especially on such an important issue? A little thread on why facts don't overcome ideology (1/9)
The first thing you've probably noticed is that many of Greta's critics are conservative, right-wing, or libertarian. That's not a coincidence - the vast majority of climate change denialism comes from these camps. But why is this, when we share the same planet? (2/n) 
Put simply, it's because the reality of climate-change challenges the personal ideology of a significant cohort. When faced with a challenge to our deeply-held ideology, we have two choices - adapt to new information, or deny it outright (3/9)
The problem is, though, for former option is hard. To admit our personal philosophy might be flawed or require modification is cognitively expensive. To reject, deflect, and deny - that's cheap & easy, as I explained in @guardian about 5 years ago! (4/8) theguardian.com/science/2014/f…
@guardian This is a worrying example of motivated reasoning - the rejection or acceptance of evidence to suit our preconceived notions. As Paul Simon once said, "all lies & jest, still the man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest (5/8)
@guardian The great psychologist Leon Festinger explored this phenomena in the 1950s. He studied UFO cults that persisted long after their beliefs have been debunked. But it's equally applicable to climate-change denial, and so many other ideological positions (6/8)
@guardian So when you see these folks trying to denigrate youth activists, see instead a group desperately clinging to falsehoods to preserve their untenable belief. To kustify their inaction. Because in reality, they cannot counter her claims so they seem to minimise other ways. (7/8)
@guardian In conclusion, ideology blinds us to reality, to our collective detriment. It's why facts alone don't shift positions. I have a whole section in my new book, #theirrationalape, on psychology of why we get things wrong, more here if you're interested (8/8)
@guardian PS: Ideological blindness not solely a flaw on the right by any means - such a big problem that I dedicate a whole section (III) in #theirrationalape delving into how our psychological quirks cause us to gets things so horribly wrong; Also messed up numbering on thread, sorry 🙃
