I think that choice is downstream just a bit of the choice I described. They want to choose that they are correct because being correct is what makes them the Anointed. If they could be wrong like the benighted masses they would lose all their moral authority and sense of worth. So again, the choice is: recognize the problems or believe you are correct. If you want to still be part of the Anointed you can't admit error and you can't admit culpability, so you have to turn off the empathy and to the extent you recognize problems make them someone else's fault.

Sowell really is a national treasure.