Thank you! I wholeheartedly agree with your points. How ironic it is then that the article lamenting the ability of "smart people" to "convincingly rationalize

Thank you! I wholeheartedly agree with your points. How ironic it is then that the article lamenting the ability of "smart people" to "convincingly rationalize nearly anything" may, in a sense, itself be a rationalization of the author's own perceived smartness (as well as the smartness of those that might identify with him). This is, of course, not to say that there are no good points in the article itself - there certainly are.