Denying the obvious

What makes some people so stupid as to deny the obvious?

I swear to God this happens.  A guy will take the stand and swear to me he has never visited a strip club, while he knows that I am holding a stack of bank records showing his weekly visits to the Pink Pony to the tune of around $250.00 per libidinous visit.

Or a woman will testify that she and that fellow her husband is so worked up about are just good friends, despite their cell phone records showing daily calls in ridiculous quantities totalling hours upon hours well into the night.  Add to that their texting records with, "this afternoon was great; I think we could do it all night long, " and, "I hunger until we are together again."  Calculate next the charge receipt from a couple of months ago at Victoria's Secret for that lace teddy that the husband has never seen.  "We're just good friends."  And she says it with such a sweet face, too.

And its not confined to witnesses.   I recently I had an opposing counsel tell the Judge that my client was a danger to his children therefore a Guardian ad Litem needed to be appointed to protect the children even though counsel knew I had his client's deposition in which she swore that she had no concerns about my client around his children whatsoever.  For Opposing Counsel it made for a great story.  For the Judge it made for a great lie. The judge was not amused.

So what makes people so stupid as to deny the obvious, when the refutation of their balderdash is staring them right in the face?

Why is committment to the truth such a rare commodity rather than a nearly universal trait?  It is as though some folks are so wedded to their position that they've never attached a value to truth.  Truth to them must be relative; it is what they say it is, not what any document or fact would demonstrate.  Truth is within their mind and may it never be disturbed. 

Suppose you asked someone for the sum of 2 + 3.  And suppose they gave you the answer of 6.  Now suppose that this person could never be moved from their position that 2 + 3 = 6.  No amount of demonstration, investigation or education could sway them from their position.  What would you think about that person?  What would you say about that person?  Are they stupid?  Are they denying the obvious?  Or both? 

It sounds as though I'm oversimplifying but this blatant denial of the obvious happens all the time and perhaps is even increasing.  As I said, it happened quite recently. 

You wouldn't think people would need to shift their paradigms to value truth nor obtain some education on how to determine truth, but it would seem some basic course might be in order for all these compassless souls.  Some basic logic: if A equals B and B equals C, then A equals C.  Go figure.

But after almost 21 years of trying family law cases and even longer of watching the politics of human interaction I realize that some folks will deny the obvious until the end of time.

By the way, did you hear?  It rained in the Arctic this weekend.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63Q47820100427

Michael Manely