Brainwashing has a lot to do with the current mental malaise of the normies, yes, but it's not all. Those of us who are different, and know we are different, have always been. It's innate, it's instinctual, it's intuitive. You can't instil it through parenting or teach it through school, your cognitive function and cerebral depth has just developed that way.

From my observations of 'people' over my 42 years, I think there is a not insignificant link to ASD, albeit at much lower levels for most of us. As an adult I've worked a lot with higher ASD, and the traits we both share is that we simply cannot be told that something 'is', we want to know 'why' or else it doesn't compute and we syntax error. I never 'fitted in' with peers and social conventions as a child, and it was only gradually by living, working in and observing the adult world, I realised that there was a 'normality' that most of the world around me worked like, but I wasn't part of it. I've had to train myself to present as 'normal' to my peers through observance, discernment, assimilation and imitation. I still frequently 'slip' and have 'awkward' moments, but I do a pretty decent simulation of 'normal' for the purpose of day-to-day living. Behind closed doors of course it's a different story ?

I'm also thinking more latterly that the normies are 'third eye blind'. But that's another realm. Do androids dream of electric sheep indeed.