The myth of "If they had only known"

I would like to direct you over to a post by Teresa Nielsen Hayden this morning at Making Light. You should head over there and read the entire post but here is a snip that catches the essence:

In all of us, there’s a tendency to believe that people would see things differently if only they knew the truth. This is an error. Following the news and sorting out the issues may be a requirement for responsible, ballot-casting citizenship; but it’s also a lot of work. For many people, the basic calculation is What are the odds that this is going to affect me personally? vs. How much trouble is it going to be for me to pay attention to this?