One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.

Carl Sagan wrote this passage in the mid-1990s amid growing public concern about pseudoscience, conspiracy thinking, and media-driven credulity in the United States. It appears in his book-length defense of scientific skepticism and critical thinking, composed late in his career as he worried about a technologically advanced society becoming vulnerable to manipulation by demagogues and “faith-based” claims. The language of “bamboozle” and “charlatan” reflects Sagan’s recurring theme: that self-deception and social reinforcement can make false beliefs emotionally costly to abandon, especially once they become tied to identity, status, or power relations.

The quote argues that deception persists not only because liars are persuasive, but because victims become psychologically invested in the lie. Sagan highlights a defensive reflex: after prolonged manipulation, people may reject contrary evidence to avoid the shame and pain of admitting they were fooled. The “saddest lesson” is thus about epistemology and power: falsehoods can harden into commitments, and those who profit from them can gain durable control. The final sentence warns that surrendering one’s judgment—politically, spiritually, or intellectually—creates dependency that is difficult to reverse, making skepticism and intellectual humility essential civic virtues.