Beneath the Lonely Mountain Tree
One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If weâve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. Weâre no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. Itâs simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that weâve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark