Reply #2: There are those here who view themselves as party functionaries. To them, any doubt or criticism

[leveymg]

, no matter how constructive or well-intended, is taken as disloyalty.

When things look grim, as they do now, there is a strong temptation by some to deny reality and to make up an alternative version, the repetition of which they can at least prove their loyalty, even if no one else is persuaded.

It's a form of emotional compensation. Nothing new in sports or politics about it.