I have a current client who wont go a night without Brian Williams. His wife says it’s a ritual for him. The appeal must be metaphysical because it sure isn’t content based. People are not always rational.. to say the least. Most are not much more than a collection of repeating patterns. And the patterns are not even theirs. Someone else gave them to them when they were little! ..and then they want to say they are acting ‘rationally’.
Well, I’m no shrink and never played one on stage or screen BUT, you can bet those that would be our masters know how to get into our heads, not to mention our pocket books. I think most of us get more or less pushed into comfort zones we are loathe to venture very far out of or for very long. I suspect much of human nature and the human condition is fairly simple at its core and there are those that are willing and able to manipulate many of the unwashed to greater or lesser degrees.