Fear.

You think you understand the world. Then suddenly some aspect of the world changes. Either you presume that the world is a fearful place, constantly changing and in need of regular reassessment, or you presume that the change is unimportant and that you already know enough about it so you don't need to worry.

I'm a little surprised that this discussion has lasted seven hours without anyone mentioning Dunning and Kruger. There's a little of that. More importantly, though, people aren't confident. People aren't self-assured. People are trying to puzzle out the world - that's one reason so many turn to God. God has few answers about Residential Schools; really, if you want to know a few things about something controversial, you have to read a lot. And you probably don't have time for that and you don't really care that much and if this were a big issue someone would have told you about it already so clearly it's unimportant. Because if it actually were important, that would mean that nobody has the answers and that we're always going to be in a constant state of having to figure it all out again.

And lots of people don't have the fortitude for that.