Not to be nihilistic, but this was the case over 40 years ago, and if something similar were still true today, it would mean 70+ years of officially constructed popular perception. (e.g. your grandparents beliefs were manufactured) This rabbit hole goes very deep, where a lot of famous writers and artists were funded by cold war efforts, where writers and editors for magazines were selected and funded to produce narrative for either soviet or american interests. Whether the story is apocryphal or real, former CIA Director William Casey apparently said, "We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false," - and from a certain perspective, whether it's real or not doesn't actually matter either way.<p>When you look at what you can really verify as true or evident in the world, it all has a pretty high bar. If it's not made of math or physics, it's a representation made of artifacts of language that reinforce belief. Symbols are comforting, and they provide a means to negotiate some physical security for our organisms to thrive without cannibalizing each other, but I'd ask whether constructing and maintaining a false reality is necessary to that end, or if is it just a kind of low, sadistic pleasure. We can't just write the CIA infiltrating all mass media and culture off as "other humans with jobs doing their best." There are ethical and noble ways to provide stability and order that encourage people grow and for life to thrive.<p>This article twigged me, as I just don't see converting 70+ years of managed deception into an addictive panopticon as the right thing to do.