You raise a good point.
If a GS-15 tells you that he has testimony from scientists who say that the Democrats and Communists are plotting to overthrow our country using a bioweapon like COVID, would you listen to him?
BTW, the operative word in your first statement is "believe."
The funny thing about people in denial isn't that they won't "believe"...it is that they won't "consider."
The funny thing about people in denial isn’t that they won’t “believe”...it is that they won’t “consider.”
Yep. “Squirrel” is the standard reaction.