I find the 2 being framed as fault of "us" weird. It seems completely normal to me to want to read a specific book rather then "just some" or see a specific movie rather then "any movie will do".

Watching things because a friend praised them or because you seen a good review or because you liked it and want to re-watch is no more "the bad herd following" then mindlessly opening Netflix and clicking whatever it recommends.

Yes, it would be nice to universal access to all content. But the streaming providers must negotiate licensing fees, and having a commitment to provide all content would allow the rights-holders to charge whatever they liked. That drive the cost of the streaming subscription extremely high. If it was PPV then it would work, but that is basically what you get with google/amazon's rentals.

In a different world where rightsholders didn't get to set their price, then this would be possible. That world is bittorrent ;)