I'm not saying there aren't, like, various propaganda machines meddling with society. Just that people underestimate the power of dynamical systems to do things without coordinated action. Ideas coordinate on their own with requiring some sort of agent to be "pulling the strings".

> don't forget that democracy is something you fight for every day.

No it's not? Democracy is a steady state that we mostly ignore every day. Over time it tends off course and when it gets too astray we correct it.