Definitely something that everyone is exposed to. Something that seems innocuous. Something we would never question.

Blind, stupid and ubiquitous Competition. What do McDonald's, N. Korea and Churches all share? The slogan, "Get 'em while they're young and keep 'em for life." Ever since the corporations made enough money (post WWII) to pay politicians to legislate against co-ops and unions (You didn't think anti-communism was ideological, did you?), we have been escalating the bullshit idea that we are all individuated fighters in an arena built by Big Money to make our lives 'better'. They don't have to put crap in the water (it's just a convenient place to dump industrial wastes). They have been rewarding the mean Mean for generations now.