Debate club
Debate club in high school was a way to make a logical series of arguments that advocate a position. That's fine if you believe in the position you are advocating. What was new to us at that time was the idea that you can make an equally convincing case by arguing for the opposite side of what you believe simply by selecting (and omitting) the appropriate facts to tell and the conclusions we all must draw from them. And if you were very good, you might even convince people to agree with you on the resolution that even you don't believe yourself.
The modern equivalent of debate club can be seen everywhere. Every advertisement (for example, Coke saying Coke is the best tasting, has best type of bottle, etc.,, rather than presenting a balanced perspective of how well it actually compares in popularity, for example). Every political candidate (after all, who really expects a candidate to say their opponent has a better approach to some things and that the best of both should be adopted, although it must be true sometimes).
Al Gore is another example in the wake of climategate. He said he was concerned about global warming, he did not talk about regaining political power or becoming a climate billionaire. But if his stated motive was true, wouldn't the climategate scandal be at the very top of his list? One would think making sure the facts were checked, rechecked and checked again on the most important issue facing Humankind would be considerably more important than convincing the public that they are before the expert case is shown to be clean. It's even okay to take a skeptical view for a while and then conclude the theory is still good. It's not okay to sweep potential scandals under the rug.
His headstrong opinions can only be explained by other reasons than what he has stated publicly. Reasons like the self-serving ones given above. Convincing others of something you don't believe is like -- well, it's like high school debate club. Apparently, he has been very good at it because by his actions, apparently he doesn't believe it himself.
The way to win against an Al Gore is not to convince HIM he's wrong. Indications are he already knows that. The way to win is to marginalize his position. Convince the PUBLIC of the truth about it so no matter what he says, he cannot harm their lives or rob their wealth.
This is the only species on Earth that's really smart, brainy, intelligent. Head and shoulders above the rest. Although we see faint echoes of our thought processes in other species, no animal comes close to what we have. Which makes it all the more surprising that we uniquely have the capacity to believe that other people are significantly lacking in that.
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