It's not like it's new. This social engineering trend has been going on as long as authoritarian elements have been rejecting the populism of The Enlightenment that brought about such innovations as the United States of America.
Much rot takes root even here, you can see it in the casual popular orgies of monarchism today. Something that by rights should be anathema in any modern just society free of its yoke. But even the free love flappers of the early 20th Century fell under its spell and in some cases became powerful agents of the engineering of the masses.
When exposed, campaigns of denial ramped up. As evidence mounted and denial faded disavowal campaigns began, throwing long time icons under the bus as desperation to retain mindshare among the sheep grew.
Of course there are excesses just as egregious by groups claiming to represent the other view. This isn't a story of a good and bad side. There is plenty of bad to go around.