Collective "truth".
Watersidewonker
The chasm that exists between CC and almost everybody else, regarding understanding the situation that they face is extreme.
Of course, denial plays its part, but IMHO the greater part is a collective need to believe in a certain world view. The two factors combine to leave them seriously deluded.
I feel very sorry for them and the pain they will endure when there is the inevitable awakening to another “truth”.
False “collective truth” is not new and I am reminded of a particularly large occurrence that ended in 1945 for a whole nation! I live in that country and the pain of the collective awakening continues until today.