And this is muddled even further by effective propoganda. Say a research article came out, claiming the health benefits of the electric shocks, or even some va

And this is muddled even further by effective propoganda. Say a research article came out, claiming the health benefits of the electric shocks, or even some vague "think of the children" style "children become violent and dangerous when not shocked". It is parroted by all the news organisations you'd expect. Even if any casual scrutiny debunks the article, I believe a worryingly high percentage of the population would believe it, because they _want_ to believe it, because it means they don't have to worry about the shocks. They've justified the shocks to themselves, so they become less painful. Accepting that they are useless or cruel after this would require them to accept that they were doing something harmful for no reason, and people are generally very resistant to being told they were wrong, especially if they have any stake in the status quo. So now you have people who _genuinely_ believe in the shocks, even though they got there through being deceived. Then all it takes is a bit of villifying of those who even suggest that there might be another way (They want to hurt our children) and the system becomes self-sustaining.