Despite thinking of myself as a baseball fan for most of my life, I never experienced the true fanaticism of fandom until I listened to Patriots fans discuss Deflategate. Whatever I think about the scandal and punishments -- and it is very little -- the ability of fans to ignore and misinterpret evidence against the Patriots and Brady is stunning.
Listening to Patriots fans talk truly gave me much more insight into the irrational positions that people take and much more insight into the essentially "tribal" beliefs people have about politics, racism, national budgets, climate change, etc. Unfortunately, I gained no insight into how to have a rational discussion about beliefs that are dear to one side or the other.
