Who wants to face facts, anyway?

Ever since a recent post on Underground Heights, I've been thinking about what music I most relate to. I keep thinking of the Carole King song, "Believe in Humanity"(http://www.caroleking.com/index.php?p=discography&subp=ck_song_appears&letter=B&filter=&order=#.)
LYRICS
If you read the papers you may see History in the making
You'll read what they say life is all about
They say it's there for the taking
Yeah, but you should really check it out
If you want to know what's shaking
But don't tell me about the things you've heard
Maybe I'm wrong, but I want to believe in humanity

I know it's often true -- sad to say
We have been unkind to one another
Tell me how many times has the golden rule
Been applied by man to his brother
I believe if I really looked at what's going on
I would lose faith I never could recover
So don't tell me about the things you've heard
Maybe I'm wrong, but I want to believe in humanity

Maybe I'm living With my head in the sand
I just want to see people giving
I want to believe in my fellow man
Yes, I want to believe
© 1973 Elorac Music (ASCAP)

In the song, Carole admits that she might not being honest with herself, and she might be objectively incorrect about her assessment of the situation, but she doesn't care. Her attitude is basically, "Don't tell me every terrible thing that's going on in the world, because I want to believe in humanity." This attitude is of interest to me, since she is extremely self aware-- it's not that she has heard from some people that it's assur (prohibited according to religious law) to read the newspaper. She's read the papers, and she realizes that if you really want to know what's going on in the world, then you ought to keep up with the times. But she finds the facts too depressing to bear, and she cannot go on sustaining her trust and faith in the world while still maintaining a hold on the facts. The cognitive dissonance the reality creates forces her to choose one to the exclusion of the other.
Cognitive dissonance is something that everyone practices, whether or not they like it or are aware of it. The fact that most people find it extremely difficult to coexist with two conflicting conceptions of reality and so they eliminate one is completely dishonest, as far as facts go. But we do this. And so, I think it is fair to conclude that human beings are not merely truth seekers. We seek internal peace and harmony. And that's ok.
The ramifications of this conclusion are huge, but at some point, we have all recognized ourselvelves and our friends overlooking some idea at the expense of another. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's part of being human. We're all in this together. So maybe it's ok that I don't have a hold on conflicting realities, but thankfully, we have other people who will preserve them for us. In my religious observance, I have found this to be especially true. I might be inclined to ignore the problems posed by some parts of Jewish law, since they do not affect my every day life.
Take the aguna problem as an example. I choose to ignore the problem in a day to day sense, because I think that if I were to belabour the point, I wouldn't want to be a part of this system-- unable to reconcile my humanist values with my Jewish commitment. However, while I might not be thinking about this problem day and night, there are people who are-- usually people who are personally affected by it, but sometimes just people like Josh Ross, the Founder of ORA -The Organization for the Resolution of Agunot, ) , who want to make a difference. It is because there are people who have different thresholds for what they can handle, and which beliefs trump which beliefs, that we all end up with different perspectives and pursue different fields. And people keep us all honest.
Thank G-d for people!
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!