Why are the Facts so Scary for People?

I noticed this for the first time some days back on Facebook.  One of my facebook friends posted a meme that discussed the fact that Republicans voted against the Veterans Jobs Bill in the senate (a bill that a few of them helped write by the way) and how that worsened the fact that Veterans were already having a hard time finding employment after their time in Iraq and Afghanistan.  

Forbes Magazine cites: "In May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported the national unemployment rate ticked up to 8.2%, but the unemployment rate for young veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan spiked to 12.7% — more than 4 percentage points higher than the national average." 

In response, another poster basically denied the source's validity, so my friend posted another...and another... to no avail, it did not matter how many sources cited... the person just refused to accept fact or even showed any willingness to have a normal conversation involving the issue, which was a group of men blocked a bill because they didn't like where it came from in further efforts to stall any progress out of partisan promises to do so over the past two years.

I sighed... I moved on, it is not like this behavior is new... I have friends, family... people I talk to every day who do this and yes, on both sides I understand...but lately seemingly overwhelming vehement denial of facts from the Right has made the behavior somewhat of a joke, an expectation.

Now, I know Bill Maher is not everyone's favorite pundit.  His bellicose reaction to anyone who believes in any sort of religion is somewhat off putting, even to me... but Since last year on his HBO show Real Time, he has a segment called Dispatches from the Bubble where Maher basically points out the rise in Republicans denial of the truth.  At first it was funny, now its just annoying.... Last night while watching the show, a Conservative Talk Show Host Roger Hedgecock continually refuted basic fact after fact saying things that I was like....really...I  mean really...did he say that???  

In the end it just bothers me, I've had conversations with people, giving them legitimate statistics that are not refuted...and they just run over them, ignoring them and go back to the same old same old...crap that insists on denying anything that is true if it gets in the way of what they want to believe....

Then they say its not because they hate Obama, but because he hasnt done anything.... I won't even go into that.... we don't need to talk about giving health care to millions, ending wars, stopping Bin Laden, saving the Auto Industry.... he's done nothing...yea ok.
In the back of my mind... I see the scary signs that litter our trip to Florida every few months calling him a Socialist Marxist Communist Muslim and cringing at the fact that my husband says there is a new trend of hanging empty chairs from trees by a noose littering the yards of acidic and hateful conservatives....   I see people in Kansas STILL trying to assert that Obama is not an American citizen and someone on my facebook writing a post about  how she is scared that a Muslim is president.....

Truth is what we make it I suppose...and facts don't matter...its upsetting and its frustrating.