This really exemplifies and focuses the point being made in "Masses, Elites, and Rebels".

It is this maintenance of persona.

To challenge that fantasy, to identify it as nothing more than that, is to threaten to send them back to whatever their lives were like before they latched onto this desperate alternative.

It makes me think of all the instances of liberals, even in my own personal life, rejecting clear evidence about a given topic. If someone hasn't build a persona that would be shattered by this evidence, there is minimal push back. However, with a persona threatened by evidence, that's when they dig in.

I think this explains the projection as well. Since it places them back on the offensive, giving them opportunity to spin more yarn for you to "debunk".

Its easier to spit the most twisted experiences you can imagine about China then seek the truth, because you believe in democracy, and you think you know what it is. To admit that the things you've been told are lies, places you back to a position of not knowing what democracy is.

It's easier to be pro Israel because you are a defender of the marginalized, who rejects hate, and racism. The positions are clear and backed by the state. You maintain your persona and risk nothing. To admit that its all a farce means you have to admit your indifference to the last 70+ years of occupation. You have to accept your racist views, and shatter the illusion that you care about the marginalized.

This maintenance scales all the way down to interpersonal relationships, to group affiliations, to regionalities. Its all in service of the maintenance of persona. The alternative is to show your true self, to reveal how much you'll lie and deceive to maintain your persona, how little you care, how much you prefere the status quo instead of progress. How much you enjoy stagnation of the self instead of growth.