"those who are peer-reviewing and publishing" are, undoubtedly, concerned with avoiding heresy and being cast into the outer darkness of junior colleges. There are a good number of honest economists working in various aspects of 'the market', those where the need for realistic forecasts is far more important than the need for ideological purity. Many of these are hedge funds. There one can enjoy playing the stupidities of 'mainstream economics' against the believers. But there remains a bias against pulling back the curtain.

Those who want to get ahead likely learn to overlook and ignore the deceptions of colleagues. How much better if one can manage to really believe or to convincingly pretend to believe the dogma. If one has gone into debt to get a degree it is rather awkward not to believe what one has learned, especially if one needs to teach. This is rather like someone who has become a Doctor of Divinity only to find that they are actually an atheist. What to do if the student loan still has to be paid.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."