No, they like feeling "in the know" while the rest of us are "swindled by the rhetoric". They're very damaging to the population and I don't know how we can handle them.
That's really just the result of the decreasing trust within society.
"Bowling Alone" is a good book that tries to explore the underlying reasons for this development, that started some time in the 1960s.
The current "war" in cyberspace probably contributes to it as well. Here is an interesting interview with a US four star general about that new area of conflict: https://youtu.be/qOTYgcdNrXE
I think some of the denial is because of the lockdown, the lockdown is affecting their financials, money is more valuable for them then life or medics and some other guys so the lockdown is a mistake, the rest is a lot of number manipulating to prove why we need to remove the lockdown and make money again.
I mean if you see the situation in Italy and Spain and you still say "it is just flu, nothing different then usual" then there is no reality that can save you, maybe if you get sick and end in one of those hospitals...
People were denying things long before the lockdown, though. I do agree there's a component of "the alternative is more convenient, so I'll believe that instead" in many people, but those should be easier to convince.
Sure, I am not saying that all denials are from people with financial interest, some just think they are expert statisticians or maybe they are part of some political group and when his favorite politicians says is just the flu then he will put all his skills to prove that is tribe is right.
Yeah, this thinking pattern is already well-practiced with climate change: "if we acknowledge there's a problem, doing something about it will hurt us financially, so it's better to simply deny there is a problem in the first place"...
