Good to see you blogging again! I enjoy your sister's blog very much also!

I can not answer your question but it is a very common reaction.
Of course I see it more in the Spiritual because that is where my mind goes.
There are basic foundational truths that the church as a body has drifted away from. New reality and new "truths" have replaced what is right and true. And so when what was spoken of by prophets of old is brought up....it is passed over as old thinking. Sad.
I'll post a portion of what you posted and see if someone can come up with an answer for you.

Perhaps what you're describing is cognitive dissonance. The situation reminds me of the pie of knowledge, and that people are comfortable with ignorance - or unaware of what they think they know but don't, and what they don't know they don't know, etc.

It takes a tremendous effort to build a lexicon up around someone's unfamiliar assertion. That assertion may draw upon a different philosophy than your own, and it's likely that similar words and phrases have vastly different meanings and values attributed to them.

This will likely make someone feel uncomfortable if you suggest that, say, neo-conservatives are bad, to a traditional conservative.

That's because they might not understand the term well enough, but may understand 'conservative' and may take offense to the perceived slight to the group they affiliate with. Ideas shouldn't be offensive...

A true intellectual can appreciate an assertion someone makes by placing it into a logical context by making an effort to understand where the idea comes from and how it benefits the individual, their family, society, etc. Which frameworks does the assertion fit into, and which is the person using?

There are also strategies that people employ to deal with cognitive dissonance, ideas, and philosophy in general. Check out the bottom of the page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

I could over simplify the problem and suggest that people would rather be comfortable and develop strategies to manage ideas, which range from a scientific strategy, to a fundamentalist strategy, etc. There can be positive benefits to accepting perceived contradictions - but only if you follow through to understand the logical framework for each. This is bewildering to some and inappropriately used by others.

By the way, http://www.bulliondirect.com/ and http://www.honeyvillegrain.com/ are your friend. Totally unrelated. :)