There was an old Arnold Schwarzennegger movie in the 80's which envisioned a future American society run by a military dictatorship, with extremely heightened security everywhere (for "protection of the public" of course...), all kinds of checkpoints to pass through on your daily trips to work or shopping, and I.D. to present, and TV everywhere. Yes, flashy TV entertainment and sensational yet trivial "news" shows were the opiate of that society. The poor, who could not afford TVs, were living in festering urban ghettos with a huge outdoor TV screen mounted in every neighborhood, so they could watch for free! A kindly government service. ;-) The TV shows, of course, were designed to maintain the status quo, keep people distracted, and they were much like the crap we watch now...really not a whole lot of difference.

The well-off lived in gleaming highrises, shopped in shiny malls, and wore groovy clothing...like Geraldo. They joined fitness clubs, went out to fancy restaurants, and NEVER entered the awful ghettos where the poor struggled daily just to survive.

One was expected to follow all the rules, talk the talk, and do one's job....

The movie was called "The Running Man". It was pretty typical Hollywood action fare, but its view of the future was rather prophetic in some respects.

The protagonist is a member of the government security forces. He flies a heavily armed attack helicopter. When ordered to fire on a protest demonstration of unarmed civilians in a plaza, he refuses, and is arrested. The fire mission goes ahead, of course, executed by some other more obedient helicopter pilot.

The protagonist is later presented on TV news reports as a rogue killer, a terrorist who disobeyed orders and used his military helicopter to slaughter a group of unarmed citizens in a public plaza. He has become society's official "bad guy" in one simple dissemination of false news reports that everyone believes without a moment's hesitation, and why wouldn't they? He is condemned to face imprisonment and probable death.

Thus the Network TV News serves perfectly as the government's organ of deception, and and the loose ends are neatly disposed of...the demonstration is quashed, the demonstrators are mostly killed (or arrested and detained...permanently), and the disobedient pilot is also disposed of.

Only it's a Hollywood movie, so you know that Arnold is going to find a way to beat them in the end. ;-)

In real life, single individuals do not normally find a way to beat something like that. (in my opinion) But it does finally get beaten... By what? By its own insanity. It falls eventually under the weight of its own iniquity, because it is based on unreal premises. It becomes intolerable to too many people, and it falls. That's what happened to Hitler's Nazi Germany, for example...and to Stalin's regime...and to Mussolini's...and to Tojo's. In time they fail, and they are swept away.