Propaganda works really well!! If you can imagine there is time and money invested to develop techniques to manage the population and basically keep people hard at work (paying taxes), busy, entertained, and basically out of the way.
Additionally this starts very early in schools. People really are not encouraged to really be a leader, challenge authority, and think for themselves. Instead they must fit a standard profile. All this stuff adds up.
One really has to re-think everything they learned and believed their entire life then all this stuff falls into place. It takes time, so we plant seeds in our friends, family, co-workers, and one day we get to see them grow!