It turns out that people's ideologically held beliefs are not only resistant to contradictory factual information, in fact their beliefs HARDEN when confronted with facts that contradict them.

Don't believe me? Here's the 2008 release from Duke:
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2008/09/nyhan.html

FULL PAPER (for those who like facts)
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bnyhan/nyhan-reifler.pdf
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The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope. -John Buchan