Many, if not most, honest folk in the modern day have had this experience: some person who is otherwise nice, sweet, honest, decent, well-informed, decent will be so badly misinformed about some matter of great public moment, invariably (these days) involving Donald Trump, let us say a Catholic mother of many years friendship, or a scholarly young woman in law school, that there is no way to correct, explain, or argue against the misinformation.

The person is brainwashed, and cannot be told she is brainwashed, since a core part of any brainwashing is to think oneself a rational and judicious thinker who has pondered both sides of the question. Pointing out that there is another side to the question, evidence she has not seen, arguments she has not heard, proves futile.

Those who are lost within its myriad kingdoms of falsehood cannot imagine the Empire of Lies exists, or, if it does exist, those who speak against it are ‘conspiracy theorists.’