General consensus is that normies are naive, brainwashed, believe everything the news tells them etc, etc... But is that really so? Maybe they are not as dumb as we think they are? Maybe most of them know it's a lie, they just choose to go along with the narrative?
Sure, there always will be some who are genuinely duped, but I'm not sure it's the majority. Like, when covid was going on, I met a lot of normies who publicly went along with the narrative, but privately it was obvious that they are not afraid of the scary virus at all. They didn't admit it out loud (even privately), but their actions were telling that (at least on some level) they know it's bullshit.
I find this thought a quite dark and depressing one. That would mean most of the people are happy to accept a lie and live with it just because it offers them some sort of benefit or simply because it's easier that way. Maybe this is why getting the truth out is not as effective as we'd like it to be. Also, that would mean mass awakening is probably not forthcoming, because there's nothing to awake from. Normies for the most part are already awake. They just don't care.
They’re not intelligent enough to make a conscious decision. They literally don’t question the providence of external stimuli. They simply respond to it exactly as it is presented to them.
If they were actively supporting the narrative, it wouldn’t be so incompetently implemented and would manage greater control over the world than it has.
I don't see it as active support, more like how Russians acted under Communism. They know everything is wrong but, since they're to scared to do anything, they pay the most basic lip service possible to keep eyes off of themselves.
I might go so far to suggest that their incompetence is how they resist, consciously or not.
I've thought about this example as well. On the other hand, back then there was this thing called kitchen talk. In public people really did pay minimally required lip service. In private, though, it was kind of a badge of honor to expose your actual views in one way or another. In public was one thing, but in the kitchen, eye to an eye, well, that was a whole another thing.
It's not quite so in this case. Most of the normies will defend mainstream lies in public as well as in private.
Cause they know their phones are listening
That too is a factor, but probably not a major one. At least not yet. No one will know if some normie, say, criticizes vaccines in private conversation. We are not quite there yet... but we might be at some point in the future.