Two things. First, yes, people can deceive themselves. To the extent this is true, I take your point; it isn’t a matter of honesty in the usual sense; it is per

Two things. First, yes, people can deceive themselves. To the extent this is true, I take your point; it isn’t a matter of honesty in the usual sense; it is perhaps better stated in terms of self inconsistency; i.e. having internal contradictions in one’s beliefs. Second, people do can and do lie about this kind of thing. I’m talking about conscious deception. Motives vary; they range from “I’ll pick my battles” to “this is good for my income stream” to “these other people don’t know it yet, but I’m right, and they’ll thank me later” and others.