In our region (DACH) all commentators and reporters who were unwilling to go with the Zelensky = Angel, Putin = Evil narrative have been removed from their jobs. They still talk about the topic but they are heavily suppressed by the sorts of shadow bans. Same happened during Corona, it's not that there were no "experts" with a different opinion, they were just muted and removed from their jobs too and got labeled as conspiracy nut jobs.
Our western society is now more soviet style than we would like to acknowledge. If you knew the good ole DDR you will feel very at home in modern Europe. Quoting the honorable former under secretary Nuland here: Fuck the EU!
Also there is that pattern of telling everybody in dissent that they are just too dumb and too uneducated to understand the facts - which actually only reveals how poor the understanding of the terms democracy and fact is with these people.
This has been one of the most interesting times of my life. Witnessing what you describe.
What is interesting to me is you either see it or you don't. The worldwide coordinated censorship in the West is amazingly alarming. And i understand that looking at the system as a polarized continuum of left<-->right you end up with one side WANTING what the news is saying to be true since it harmonizes more closely with their worldview... so from my viewpoint many are under a sort of spell.
The two sentences in bold above especially resonate with me, couldn't say that any better, though I'd like to distance myself from implying that those who don't see it are cognitively limited. We grey folks actually learned in school and from our parents how and where to look for truths or better: critical thinking and that only seldom there is black and white - mostly it's shades of muddy grey. Nowadays they are just told to believe what the MSM influencers tell them ("They said he is an expert, so it must be true that it is a white one even I as layman see black there - science is amazing"). Looking for truth and critical thinking is not taught anymore, it's just follow the "experts".
It somehow started around 10-15 years back, until then you could still trust the national public stations here and sometimes they really pissed some people off with their scoops, in fact they did bite the hand that fed them occasionally which was the best justification for their public funding.
Funny thing is that the public today seems to have a very short attention span and if the MSM or politicians completely contradict themselves within like 2 or 3 years only, nobody even notices it anymore. And if you point that out, they just shrug with their shoulders.
Regarding interesting times: Pretty sure, in the almost 60 rounds around the sun I have done I've never felt we are as close to either a platinum-style economic crisis or a very inclusive (non-binary and gender-fluid
people individuals very welcome to it) world war. I suspect a really big crisis (not like "O noes - I gonna run out of toilet paper in 12 days") will help make the masses good in critical thinking again, I am sure of that.
I was under it too for quite some time. My own journey in this regard is something very powerful that I cannot really explain to others without them thinking I am crazy... so usually I keep my mouth shut.
I have certainly expressed way more than is useful here lol.
See that's the great gift of Bitcoin. I don't have to care anymore, I lost a job in 2022 because I made joke about the safety record of a vaccine (well, admittedly that was not the brightest move when you get paid indirectly from big pharma's money - including some of the MRNA "experts"

)
Now thanks to Bitcoiun I don't need any more jobs - another job or customer lost is now quality lifetime won.
That's not to say I am looking for these kind of discussions and arguments, but if necessary I have them and I really don't care anymore what people think. I am good with all my beloved ones (even so our opinions often differ) and that's all that matters these days to me.
It also helps a lot when your partner has a similar mindset, that is not to say wifey and I agree on all opinions but its good food for long discussions that almost always benefits both of us in forming further our beliefs and opinions. I.e. that's how we defined democracy in ancient times. Also with discussions come drinks, so what's not to like on having different opinions?
/end of rant from retarded Putler fanboy and antivaxxer tinfoil hat UAP believer conspiracy theorist (I can't really warm for the flat earth thing yet, but I am working on it).
How about the moon landing? That's a fun one.

Now you're trying to get me into really hot waters, do you