Kuala Lampur, June 12 -- Have you ever presented someone with facts or data which challenged his/her deeply held views, expecting the person to be responsive to the possibility that maybe he/she is not entirely right, only to have him/her doubling down and clinging even more strongly to his/her original belief?

I mean, I know right?

And, c'mon, this happens with us too, doesn't it? A friend gives us three good reasons demonstrating that our political narrative is less solid than we think - and what do we do? We put up some Captain America shield and stand our ground even more!

Anyway, I recently discovered there is an official name for this phenomenon: the backfire effect.

The phenomenon suggests that on certain hot-button issues - po...