[BurningFrog]

> On the one hand, one can give the defense, "they aren't consciously trying to put their interests ahead of yours and aren't trying to deceive you"

Almost. There needs to be a "consciously" before each "trying".

Because they are trying to deceive you, but the conscious part of their (or, just as much, our) mind doesn't know it.

It helps to think of the brain as dozens of more or less independent units, most of which are unconscious.

The common metaphor is:

If you think of the brain as something like the White House, the conscious part ("me") assumes it is the President. In reality it is the Press Secretary, tasked with coming up with arguments for why what the real decision makers decided is a great idea.