>It has no place in a progressive society where being duped with propaganda into believing falsehoods should not be something to look up to.

I think this really misses the nuance of all of this. To put it bluntly: there's too many dumb people who need to believe in this kind of "magic" to be able to reasonably ignore it on a political strategy level. Just trying to treat everyone as intellectually-capable of being presented facts and making a logical choice clearly doesn't work, and the opposition is perfectly willing to exploit this dynamic.

Dumb or too busy surviving to have time to pay proper attention?

( especially when the truth is being intentionally hidden behind a wall of propaganda ).

Also is a strategy of being part of the crowd ( even if it's an astroturfed one ) a dumb or smart survival strategy?

Too many people are tribal rather than critical thinkers.