Granted those that realize this already are not perhaps even a majority now int eh US.

Yeah, that's the thing.

There are pockets of people who are clued in and take the time / have the time to process what they read/see & hear. Those people seem to be fewer and harder to find.

I don't think people are generally just plain dumb (I know unpopular opinion), but I think a good majority of us are in sensory and informational overload and human understanding of the world has likely never been so complex nor moved so quickly.

This is all happening during a modern renaissance period for malicious misrepresentation (i.e. convincing lies). And even if people are too "dumb" to tell truth from lies, they do recognize that the lies are coming in rapid fire and from every direction. Easier just to tune out and not think too much about all that, otherwise it's depressing.

Don't forget that older folks are aging into cognitive issues, younger people have only known this as their reality, poor people are struggling to make ends meet with no time to stop and think, and so many of the ones who've "made it" are doing their best to keep it all conveniently compartmentalized away and out of sight.

So, yes, sometimes you do have to be direct and spell otherwise obvious things out for people. The struggle is real.

This is a case where it's obvious there's no direct causation, but so often it's not this clear, and even the really smart people sometimes mess that part up -- intentionally or otherwise.