From the 1950s to the 1990s or so, it was well-known that mind control was a real thing. If someone got hold of you, they could literally go into your brain and program you to think whatever they wanted, and unless a "deprogrammer" turned you back you'd be in their thrall forever. An American of the 1980s would have no trouble listing off examples of people who've been successfully mind controlled in this way: Patty Hearst, the Manson family, the Peoples Temple...

I think this has to be seen in that light. There's something happening, and we should investigate it, but that's no guarantee it's at all like what we're thinking.