[https://superbowl.substack.com/p/ayn-rand-will-kill-us-all]

The mistake is that…it’s not just a logical deduction, but, so to speak, a deduction that has turned into a feeling. Not all natures are the same; for many, a logical deduction sometimes turns into the strongest feeling, which takes over their whole being, and which it is very difficult to drive out or alter. To cure such a person, it’s necessary in that case to change the feeling itself, which can be done only by replacing it with another equally strong. That is always difficult, and in many cases, impossible.

— Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Adolescent

Fact is, the same dynamic plays out in a wide variety of contexts. Smart people become invested in an idea, often for emotional reasons, then they launder their beliefs through a veneer of rationality.