So is stating that you are “playing devil’s advocate” a way to hide behind criticism without honestly disclosing your beliefs?
Yes, it is not only realistic it is the only way. your devil’s advocate proposition is illustrative of the apathy that has gotten us where we are.
It’s a two-way street, as I said, some have claimed to rebuke what Freakonomics says, I really looked into this probably about 2 years ago. Plenty of articles on the internet on the subject: http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/02/freakonomics-claim-abortion-drops-crime-rates-refuted-again/