Just my reaction, but what worries me is that information is not always truth, but inspite of this, it follows the saying which you quoted. It forms us. I say this is the context of our modern world of conflicts and propaganda. There is a propaganda war fighting for all of our minds, to be able to carry on the real warfare on the ground. The obscene manipulation of information and images can make us beleive very strongly that something is true, which opinion can be very hard to change later, and indeed very distressing if you find out for yourself.
You were talking in quite general terms, but to illustrate my point I feel the need to turn to specifics.

The war on terror. An absurd expression, as it makes no sense, but has been used to justify crimes against peoples and nations since that distresssing day in September of 2001.

I watched, as did millions around the world, the events of 9/11 unfolding ´live´ on television, and was stunned and appalled as anyone with any sensibility would be. The power of the first impression is incredible. It is easier to convince someone that a lie is true than it is to convince them that they have beleived a lie. (An approximate quote) If you get your misinformation in first, someone who knows the truth can scream blue murder but you probably won´t beleive them.

In our family we used to spend many evenings together without tv, with music, or maybe a play on the radio, and my father was a big fan of doing puzzles. So much so that we got to the point where he would pick two 5000 piece jigsaws (we had quite a collection), mix the pieces together, and as a family we would do the two puzzles simultaneously without the pictures for reference. I still like puzzles and the metaphors can be strong. When presented with an information puzzle, you might think you know the picture. You´ve been given so many pieces, and been told what they are, but beleive me when I say that once you find a piece that DOES NOT GO, and that maybe doesn´t even match the picture you´re trying to build, because it´s part of a different picture, nothng will convince you to go back. Once you´ve seen one lie, one impossible piece trying to fit where it simply does not, the piece maybe the right shape but the image doesn´t match, or the image looks right, but it just doesn´t fit right, you´ve had to force that piece in there and it just doesn´t sit right... You get the what I´m trying to say right? 9/11 was all lies. We were fed pieces of a bigger picture and told that they fit, but they don´t, and this whole war on terror is a huge dirty pile of lies built on a foundation of lies and the more you dig the more dirt you find and the more disgusted you become, but to speak out to the millions who still beleive what they were fed on the first day, you´re wasting your breath. For them to change their minds is just to heart wrenching. Firstly they´d have to beleive that they were gullible enough to swallow a pack of lies, and kept them down for so long, and secondly the truth is so damned disgusting as to turn your stomach. You will not sleep well. You will be tormented and disturbed, so yes, information informs us and forms us, but what if it were never the truth? My new motto in life : Question everything, most especially that which you most firmly beleive!

(If it stands up to questioning and intense scrutiny, that´s good! If not, well maybe the truth is something slightly different, or something radically different!) I hope I haven´t spoilt your day! Oh! ...and thiose soldiers, fighting for their great nation, protecting your freedom...? No. Poor manipluated pawns being used shamelessly in a power and greed struggle that will be the destruction of us all. (If you use facebook, look up Vince Emmanuelle, ex-vet, fought in Iraq, now an anti-war campaigner with very sound reasoning and much experience)