So here's the short of it, 
You Are Not So Smart -- neither am I apparently.

And here's the long.

Tonight I read an article about something called The Backfire Effect. Here's a link to the article in case you're interested.   It certainly explains the reason that Facebook has become the place for people to just continue to expound their own philosophies either in their "status update" or as a comment on a "friend's" status update.  It also explains the popularity of Fox News and MSNBC, and various shows that are "let me tell you one more way why you believe what you believe".

I'm planning to order the book that's recommended in this article You Are Not So Smart.  

"Whether you're deciding which smartphone to purchase or which politician to believe, you think you are a rational being whose every  decision is based on cool, detached logic.  But here's the truth: You are not so smart.  You're just as deluded as the rest of us - but that's okay, because being deluded is part of being human...

So I want to read more about how I'm not so smart, maybe it will make me smarter.