It's amazing how complex the brain can be, and yet so easily manipulated. Even without mind control we often program ourselves to assimilate because the majority of the population just wants to make it through the day, whereas only a few tend to be the center of attention, good or bad.
I definitely would not doubt the reality of this type of programming and how abhorrent it is. Maybe the joke is on us because we sincerely believe we have free will. Maybe we're all just experiments in the universal petri dish.