I first heard this theory from this REdneck Reggae guy in Florida.
There are always gonna be people who test reality to see how plastic they can make it. This is the stuff of demagogues. The patriarchs in my family wouldn't know the truth if it bit them on the nose. For example, my father still swears to this day that his father didn't drink -- that his mother got the whole family on the pledge. Meanwhile my aunt and uncle got a big chuckle out of keeping cold beer hidden in their frig for when Grampy was over. this is the same uncle who tried to convert me to the Holocaust Hoax theory and believes we are descended from Scottish bluebloods, even though our ancestors were lowlanders. (ie, anti-laird bourgeois).
End of rant. Until serious inroads are made on the mountains of denial here in the U.S., demagogues can push a gullible public any way they want.