The general uncertainty as to what is really happening makes it easier to cling to lunatic beliefs. Since nothing is ever quite proved or disproved, the most unmistakable fact can be impudently denied. Moreover, although endlessly brooding on power, victory, defeat, revenge, the nationalist is often somewhat uninterested in what happens in the real world. What he wants is to feel that his own unit is getting the better of some other unit, and he can more easily do this by scoring off an adversary than by examining the facts to see whether they support him. All nationalist controversy is at the debating-society level. It is always entirely inconclusive, since each contestant invariably believes himself to have won the victory. Some nationalists are not far from schizophrenia, living quite happily amid dreams of power and conquest which have no connection with the physical world. (from Notes on Nationalism by George Orwell, May 1945)
Backwards Observer, the truth in this partial quote extends well beyond nationalists. In the U.S. it applies equally to Democrats and Republicans, in religious circles it applies to many religions, and in fact it seems any identity group (environmentalists for example) must have some degree of irrational belief to exist. While important, in the end it appears to be same as it ever was.