If you hear nonsense like that often enough for long enough, you begin to believe it.

Beware | All too often | We say | What we hear others say. | We think | What we’re told that we think. | We see | What we’re permitted to see. | Worse! | We see what we’re told that we see. | Repetition and pride are the keys to this. | To hear and to see | Even an obvious lie | Again | And again and again | May be to say it | Almost by reflex | Then to defend it | Because we’ve said it | And at last to embrace it | Because we’ve defended it | And because we cannot admit | That we’ve embraced and defended | An obvious lie. | Thus, without thought | Without intent | We make | Mere echoes | Of ourselves— | And we say | What we hear others say. | Chapter 18 (pp. 337-338)