I think they have a larger need to be right about something than a revulsion of admitting they are wrong. Many are largely uneducated, and they feel that inadequacy, though can't admit it out loud. So they have to base their decisions on "common sense" or "faith" and not science. That's why they fall for stuff like Q or flat earth or anti-vax. It's akin to buying a lottery ticket daily. People laugh at them for doing it, but when they finally win (and they will), who'll be laughing at them then? The longer the odds they have to beat, the smarter they will look when they win, right? Like an ideological lottery.
And that doesn't take into account those kids whose parents are long COVID and how everything in their world got turned on its head. How we as a country approach and support these orphans and hurting families will be a big influence on who we become as a country going forward.
A lot of them have already given up on this world, and are looking to be martyrs for the cause. A slow burn Guyana.
Add into these calculations the forecast of AI and robotics taking more and more jobs, what professions can you introduce them to that can be rewarding, fulfilling and sustainable?
We had polio, TB and Spanish Flu rack our country over the first half of last century. That tied with the crash of the Gilded Age and the Great Depression pushed our collective mind thought into a place of "there go I, but by the grace of God." That led to the Great Society movement. It just seems history is repeating itself.