If you've ever worked in a kindergarten, you've probably noticed how one child sometimes begins to chant something, such as "all bears are toys, all bears are toys", then other children will join in with him, so that after a while every child in the room is chanting, "all bears are toys, all bears are toys." You might put in, "No they are not. That one in the picture, for example." They would continue, "all bears are toys, all bears are toys."
That really happens, and quite often too. It's also exactly how adults in academia think and behave most of the time.