This just demonstrates their own insecurities. There's a part of all of us that allows itself to be controlled by popular opinion. Which labels anyone that do not let themselves be affected by the opinion of others as insane or unfit for society. Those who understand this shape people's opinion to their advantage and don't even have to prosecute those who go against the general opinion they were brought up to believe. We are so dependent on one another that our brains rather go with the flow than to feel rejection. The upside, is that as soon as enough people consistently reject an ideal, it becomes a groupthink influence of its own. What those in power are looking for is to stamp out the competition because once you understand that people think based on what others think, well, ideologies are hard to control once the crowd takes them in their minds through their own interpretations. The only thing that rules over this entire ordeal is the times we are living in.