The very worst part about this is that the people who bought into the lie just cannot let it go. Totally unwilling to accept they’ve been duped, they cling to it because it is a HUGE cudgel. Control freaks.
The rank and file isn't powerful enough to wield it as a cudgel. What is going on is the very pedestrian "confirmation bias" and refusal to admit having held an erroneous belief, "saving face." The number true believers who are followers is vastly greater than the number of leaders. 10 thousand to one, at least.
“The very worst part about this is that the people who bought into the lie just cannot let it go.”
for them it’s like finding a new religion.
Big corporations make too much money off this. They have to force people to believe this.