The lying which you describe IA, has become necessary, because capitalism is in crisis, and has been since the financial crash of 2008/09.
In a bid to distract and mitigate its effects, we had Brexit, and the narrative about evil intervention from an ‘unelected super-state’, an ‘evil empire’ based in Brussels, etc. etc.
Now, incredibly, in the face of the biggest public crisis since 1939, we see that many of the same folk opposing vaccination, lockdown and state support.
Why is this? Because they can’t bring themselves to accept that financial and social benefits, health and social care, redistribution of resources, etc. benefit everyone. Because that’s socialism in action.
So, as with Brexit, they argue that ‘socialist’ intervention makes things worse, and the solution to the crisis is to intervene less!
So forget lockdowns, they say. Bring in herd immunity, get people back to work by withdrawing benefits, turn compassion for others into ‘virtue signalling’, and promote a narrative about ‘setting people free’, a narrative that plays particularly well with those who resent rules, as well as with those who benefit from a lack of regulation, especially those in the financial markets.
The system must not be questioned, because the alternative is to admit it’s flawed. That means people will beg for more intervention, more redistribution and support, more socialism.
So, backed up by some 70% of the mass media and numerous social media sites, a fiction is spread that everything would be fine if only the government did less, removed rules, and kept out those from abroad. Our history must not be questioned. Statues must not be questioned. The system must not be questioned.
And how do they do this? The only way they can, with lies, lies and more lies, on an epic scale. Hence truth decay, hence Trump, hence Johnson.