Although I was a very precocious child, one thing I learned only as an adult is that propaganda is extremely effective and nearly impossible to combat.

The efficacy of propaganda and how it pervades all aspects of society – primarily these days coming from corporations in the US, not government – is probably the most disappointing fact I fully realized only after I was 25 or so.

That 90%+ of people believe only what has been blasted into their brains by propagandists, hucksters and corporate PR forestalls the possibility of any real social improvement. Which is, of course, the idea.