I think an important corollary of this is that contemporary programs stand on the shoulders of MKULTRA, which did them the favor of testing a lot of hypotheses that didn’t pan out.

There’s a reason why low-quality high-bias infotainment, social media echo chambers, and controlled opposition platforming are so prevalent, and the only satisfactorily complete answer in my mind is that it’s something a quorum of the population will stomach that also gives them the degree of control they think they need.