Wicked Problems
We cannot agree whether a problem exists, or if it does, whether it should be addressed. We lock in place defending or advancing our status; protecting our tribal "interests;" being fixated on an ideology or paradigm (how things must work); or even by foolish pride in our own ignorance.
Negotiators, facilitators, and other intermediaries have developed many approaches to ease people in conflict into "dialog" about it. Dialog means an honest exchange; participants listen; they are not deaf to others, while poised to cut them off, rephrasing their own argument. The illusion is that the party that speaks the loudest and longest somehow "won." And it certainly is in conflict with any version of scientific problem solving.
In some localities, lawyers have formed arbitration services for groups to resolve conflicts with less expense and rancor than going to trial -- or refusing to yield on any point until just before going to trial. In the litigious United States, conflict resolution is a huge waste.
Calling a conflict of interests a "wicked problem" starts to cool passions, and collective "mess mapping" exercises help open possibilities for resolution. (See the citation.)