Are you well educated enough?

Saw a line from the Economist about elections in democratic countries like the United States.  

We are not educated well enough to perform the necessary act of intelligently selecting our leaders.

When the election result is not to our liking, it is easy for us to BLAME THE OTHER voters that they are not educated well enough.  Wait a minute.  Is it so easy to be educated well enough？

Show me an orange and an apple. I can make a choice between the two. I can do so by look at their shape, size, color and smell.  That used to be a simple choice in the old days.  I might make a wrong selection occasionally but I will learn from my mistakes over time.  

But, nowadays, if it is known that most people chooses orange (or, are predicted to choose orange), the apple owner may decorate the apple so that it is more appealing to the consumers. By changing the shape, size, color and smell, say.  When most people now choose apple, the orange owner may decorate the orange so that it is more appealing to the consumers.

The competition can continue. More decoration techniques are invented to FOOL the consumers. The consumers are however ultimately interested in the taste of apples and orange. Fooled by the decoration, we as consumers may end up buying a bad apple.

To be a wise consumer, we need to understand the tricks of the decoration and thus be able to uncover the real thing.

And, that is not easy!  Certainly very costly!