I dislike this framing as it's rather misanthropic and discounts the impact of propaganda. we've been losing the war of position but that doesn't make the average person an NPC. liberalism is like the air - we imbibe it unconsciously. people get on TV and call these algorithms intelligent so people just believe it. when you assume people are incapable of independent thought, you accept that we cannot change their minds. this too is liberal propaganda - that the average person is reactionary, backwards, and only to be controlled.