I see the "pack mentality" as a consequence of the individual's desire to make truth conform to his particular POV in order to further himself IN THE SHORT TERM, regardless of possible long term repercussions. The individual remains largely apathetic to politics as long as his needs and most of his wants are being met. Thus, he implicitly buys into the system which created the conditions conducive to his short term benefit. I think this is where the "pack mentality" comes into it. He (like most other individuals who will now make up "the masses") is generally ok with the way things are going and doesn't want to rock the boat. He craves security in every aspect of life. Meanwhile the people in charge continue tweaking the system to benefit themselves more and more while making sure to keep their underlings "just happy enough". Control of the media, military, and government in general certainly help accomplish this.

However, twisting the truth can not be beneficial in the long run. You can deny Global Warming, economic destabilization, the effects of hegemonic foreign policy, ect. in order to benefit in the short term, but it will always come back to bite you in the long term. The effects are becoming more apparent everyday. While most people are quick to complain and throw their support to those with pre-packaged "solutions", few are able to point the finger back at themselves and see that it is their individual acquisitiveness, envy, violent nature, and jealousy which are being manifested in the society they themselves created.

People need to wake up and realize that EVERYTHING they read and see on TV is biased in one way or another. EVERYTHING. Some bias is unintentional, some quite the opposite. The human race needs free thinking individuals with the best interests of humanity at heart to get together and spread the word.

P.S. I appreciate being able to have this discussion with you on this forum. I feel it is a fundamental issue which gets too little attention.