If people are told a lie over and over and over again by supposed experts — say that the sky is red — they begin to think: “Well, maybe it is.”
They hear it repeated endlessly on TV debates that almost always give equal credence to both blue sky and red sky arguments. One expert says that the sky is red. The other expert says “For heavens sake — look out the window. The sky is blue.”
A sky-is-blue, sky-is-red-like debate can happen these days because so many of us have no time to look out that particular window. We are run off our feet just trying to keep up with the increasing pressures of ordinary living. So there’s a strong tendency to think if there’s a red/blue debate, it must be important, must have real substance, since really important people are spending so much time on it.
And sometimes when people get up at dawn to start another overly busy day, the sky is kind of pink. And kind of blue. So it’s easy to just accept either the red or the blue view of things — which ever you’re most comfortable with that day. Who has time to personally research the issue anyway?
And that, folks, is how it works. With sky color. And with political issues.