So why exactly does this happen, and how far can this distortion of reality go?

那么，为什么会发生这种情况，这种对现实的扭曲会到什么程度呢？

What troubles me is that differences of opinion or ideology have in certain situations been reflected by egregious distortions of reality.

令我困扰的是，在某些情况下，意见或意识形态的差异已被对现实的严重扭曲所反映。