Challenging ideas, challenging people

Even though the source newsarticle of the below quote doesn't have much to do with challenging oneself, it does provide an illustration. Of something I was reading about via Stephen Colbert, or rather, a scientific article, researching the mechanism behind the term he coined - truthiness (Google Scholar search). Another author, who gives some account of it, though briefly, is Carl Honoré in his recent book: The Slow fix, where he introduces it as confirmation bias.

From critiques of president Harding and how he wrote speeches:

"/.../ Such [people] do not want ideas — that is, new ideas, ideas that are unfamiliar, ideas that challenge their attention. What they want is simply a gaudy series of platitudes, of sonorous nonsense driven home with gestures."

By H. L. Mencken nearly a century ago about one of the most infamous orations of all time: the inaugural address of President Warren G. Harding. Source: here.