Part of the answer may lie in a post at http://judithcurry.com/2012/04/19/the-righteous-mind/ and the focus is a couple of reviews of a book, Jonathan Hailt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good people are divided by politics and religion (see also www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2012/03/haidt-weird-liberals-righteous-mind-a… or even www.counterpunch.org/2012/02/27/lying-for-the-cause/
Over at Tall Bloke's talkshop, http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/uncertainty-the-origin-of-the-… is a post that looks at the otherwise solid and accepted premise that humans are responsible for the recent rise in atmospheric co2 levels throught the burning of fossil fuels. This meme is rarely challenged, even by sceptics, but in this piece it is given a head butt just to see what it might shake out. The comments are also excellent. Worth your attention.