When trying to generate consensus around an issue, a key strategy is to guide a person's thought process so that the person reaches the decision you would like them to reach, while leading them to believe that the decision they arrived at is their own.
I would contend that the mainstream media in the US has employed this strategy very effectively, to the benefit of the controlling interests. I honestly don't believe that the majority of Americans are capable of making their own, well informed judgements on a number of key issues that are of high importance to the controllers.
I would contend that the decisions that many people believe to be their own are, in actual fact, supplied to them in the various flavors of media that they consume - be it in television, print, films, games, or otherwhise.