First I must say I can see you speak as a proper scientist/skeptic (skeptic in the good way), and I agree with almost everything you write (in that post). I was the one who posted about confirmation bias so I find it a bit hard to follow how you went from the idea that someone would seek info to support their view to suggest it implies there are therefore two sides to every fact. Rather I thought it would more suggest the opposite. That is, that confirmation bias would often indicate two sides to an issue when there is only one.
Confirmation bias is pretty much why incorrect conspiracy theories exist (e.g. the moon landing hoax).
Anyway, I suspect that actually we are in agreement. My suggestion in this thread is that confirmation bias is playing a significant part in the support for the OP theory. Since this is a topic of discussion on a videogame fansite rather than a scientific study it isn't a big problem of course. Really I'm just putting it out there in a hope to remind people that this isn't how science is usually done and that actually this form of bias is extremely common, especially in political discourse unfortunately.
There is a theory in Communications about the willingness of people to listen (and learn from) information that is presented as it relates to their existing attitudes. I believe it boils down to a Latitude of Acceptance and a Latitude of Rejection. The theory says that how much a person is willing to engage information being communicated depends upon how well that information matches their existing views. This is related to confirmation bias. It helps to explain why, when presented with the same evidence, two people (of equal intelligence?) can come to differing conclusions about its merit. Another study found that when people of opposing views are in a contentious situation in which they can form "teams", both sides are more likely to become more radical. There is an unfortunate tendency to put truth aside in favor of ego. This is also related to groupthink.
These biases may seem to suggest, on the surface, that the venerable "truth is just opinion and everyone's opinion is therefore of equal merit" canard -- that truth isn't singular. For instance, if groups of people tend to become radicalized in their thinking when they feel they're in competition, isn't it implied that the truth is secondary? If people are prone to only looking for evidence that supports their existing attitudes and reject information that challenges them -- even becoming more radically ideological, on a superficial level it would seem that truth is secondary and the multiplicity of opinion is what counts.
So, I was making this point to help those who would take the wrong message from the point about confirmation bias. It's not that truth isn't important or can't be discovered. It's that people have an unfortunate tendency to avoid it. I hope this is clear; I am many hours past my bedtime and tend to become unclear when I'm tired.
P.S. As for "conspiracy theories", one of the reasons they have so much traction is because conspiracy happens constantly. For instance, over 70% of the American public in some polling wanted a public option and yet neither party would allow one. The Obama White House made a secret deal with industry at the start of the process, guaranteeing that single-payer would not be considered and that the public option would not be part of the final bill. The Republicans presented a united false front, one that conveniently dropped right before Christmas Eve. The thing that upsets the industry is that the mandate (fines) were reduced. This is likely a large reason why the health industry has switched from giving its largest donation to the Dems (Obama got 18 million) to giving more to Republicans. The industry likely believes it can count on the Republicans, who continue to pretend to oppose "health reform", to deliver. The goal is to have "health care reform" mean the mandate and nothing more. What was passed was just about that, but the fines weren't large enough to placate the industry, apparently.
The point I'm making is that, despite the will of the public (wanting a real public option, not the watered-down-to-nothing version the House passed and then the Dems whipped against) -- both parties have put on a kabuki show. The Obama White House lied repeatedly, and so did everyone else involved. The public didn't get their option. That's conspiracy, and it happens constantly. Some conspiracies are nastier than others, of course. But, it's quite clear when looking at wealth trends that the rich and their retainers (politicians/media) have been conspiring for decades. Neofeudalism is already happening. It can already be seen with words like "globalization", "outsourcing", and "austerity". The latter is all the rage right now. It's not austerity for the ruling class, of course. They know it for what it actually is: incremental serfdom.
The government poisoned many Americans during Prohibition by substituting wood alcohol for ethanol. It gave people syphilis and covertly studied the deterioration for decades. Kids were fed radioactive oatmeal and sprayed with DDT. People were experimented on with many forms of toxins. People were covertly injected with polonium in hospitals. Eugenics was popular; kids were warehoused in places like Fernald and ethnic populations were involuntarily sterilized (like those kids). Chomsky and others have documented in great detail many of the conspiracies America has been involved in in terms of foreign involvement (putting dictators in place, et cetera). America isn't special; conspiracy happens because power/money corrupts. Conspiracy is a way of life for the people in power, the same people who get retroactive immunity for their crimes (in a country with the highest percentage of imprisoned people per capita) -- which itself is a form of conspiracy.
We get austerity and imprisonment. They get bail-outs, stimulus, retroactive immunity, media and think tank jobs, cushy government appointments, and corporate roles. Some even get black sites and hit lists.
Did I also mention I tend to talk too much when I'm fatigued? Feel free to edit this post down if it's too large.