On cognitive dissonance:

"Leon Festinger introduced cognitive dissonance in the 1950s, just a few years before the Chinese famine. Basically, the idea refers to the deep discomfort it causes us when someone proves us wrong or when we find ourselves living in contradiction with our principles. We'll do anything to alleviate that discomfort before we actually change our behavior.

In Festinger's own words, "Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point." For decades, research on cognitive dissonance confirmed the most disturbing traits about human nature, that we're impulsive and easy to manipulate. We can rationalize anything, but if our cognitive dissonance becomes too great, we can't function. We go nuts."

spontaneous trait transference

The human brain evolved over millions of years. Most psychologists agree, it's good at responding to immediate threats.

It's terrible at responding to slow, gradual threats, even when they're far more important. As Brian Merchant writes in Vice, "Humans have, historically, proven absolutely awful, even incapable, of comprehending the large, looming... slow burn threats facing their societies." In Collapse, Jared Diamond chronicles how leaders of past civilizations failed to address clear dangers because it was easier to shrug them off and downplay them.