As you know, P6's motto is

In general, I feel that's more warning than anyone I don't know deserves, and people who know me (whether they like me or not) already understand it.

Well, in the comments to Seriously TroublingI got this response to something I said:

As for this:

Open your eyes. This coming from someone--me--who you KNOW is reasonable.

Except when you aren't reasonable, right? As I understand it, you are reasonable until you read something that pisses you off enought that you don't care if it is true or not, right?

Obviously we're talking social and psychological phenomena, not physics or math.

I thought about it, and the person who said this has been hanging tough and I feel deserves an actual explanation of the thought processes. The response is here instead of the comments just 'cuz.

It's been said that you can't reason a person out of a position they didn't reason themselves into. The fact is, all of us have positions we didn't reason ourselves into. I'm pretty aware of which positions I hold that were not reasoned into, and it'll be harder than hell to move me out of them.

It is possible, though. You have to present me with information I didn't have before or prove it more likely that things operate differently than I understand them to. If your explanation is no more likely than mine, I see no reason to give mine up. And if I see you feel my explanation is no more likely than yours and you choose to not accept mine, I won't dispute you much further.