Sometimes the children are the ones who wake up, having less preconceptions of the world. My parents were part of this group — I am guiding my younger brother down a more questioning path, slowly, as well, as he approaches 18.
Biology works against us. Once many of these people have formed a concept of the system, they are reluctant to change it, and that ideology goes stronger as they age. If they have trusted the news for twenty years, thirty years, even forty — why should they stop now? It would render most of their life incorrect, and our minds have very strong defenses against acknowledging things of that nature. Most people who have shifted their understanding have done so only because they were put through excruciating circumstances that required a reevaluation.
And most who did not need to change their understanding did so because they were raised with an anti-authority stance, to begin with — and they have the same issues as the opposite side.
I will never hold my parents at fault for it, they, in the end, raised me well— but I will do my day-to-day part in chiseling away at people’s naivete. I don’t ramble very often here on medium, but my lack of coffee got me started.