Like, I've seen many smart people that are even, in theory, supporting of socialism and against imperialism who are well aware that there is a propaganda machine in the US and the west, who when it comes to anything about AES/past socialist states, they will just regurgitate state department propaganda without question.
Like, even if you bring up, for example, Xinjiang, and how virtually all evidence comes from some really bad research by a guy who clearly has an agenda, they will say something along the lines of "maybe that's true, but that doesn't disprove there's a genocide there". Which... is not how burden of proof works. Mind you, these are also people who clearly know about shifting of the burden of proof when it comes to climate change or evolution, but here? Then it's every logical fallacy, no critical thinking.
So what is it about these things that remove critical thinking from otherwise smart people?
I've come to believe that for many smart people that moment before "maybe that's true, but..." isn't merely cognitive dissonance or the propaganda kicking in. It's them making a decision to keep believing the lie, to choose the safety of performative ignorance, because most people think - rightly or wrongly - that stepping outside the accepted narrative will mean ostracism, ridicule, and hopelessness in the face of that. And so they chose to believe the bullshit.
Yeah this, accepting that AES states are often good, actually, means incorporating real change in their worldview that they're unwilling to accept the consequences of.
We all have the subconscious choice to accept or reject the Matrix
Ha, I guess so.