Every day my local health agency reports the latest pandemic statistics, and then all the oddballs pile in with every (incompatible) permutation of conspiracy theories that you can imagine.
I think the fact that an outcasts are unappreciated is an inherent correlation. Being influenced by appreciation is mostly useful for getting individuals to adhere to the behavior of the group.
As for it being painful? That's all relative. Individuals tend to choose the actions that result in the most reward and least pain, so outcasts probably choose to be outcasts because following the group must produce not as much reward or even more pain.
Like the Machines from the Matrix who learned to exploit humanity's inherent mistrust of the status quo and created Zion as a cattle-pen to draw "enlightened" humans who rejected the system into and periodically slaughter, the powers that be have discovered that no mind is easier to enslave than the one that believes itself free.
So yes, people who do actually know things are behind a lot of that, but not for the reasons you might think.
Who says its goal was not to demoralize the rebel from taking action?
I think the shitposters of the 'anime right' feel we are living more and more in a dystopian corporate crime ridden hellscape. They want to go back to their youth or to a fictitious past. If you ask them what they want, a lot of them wants a traditional family, a farm and a nice green patch around them. It are modern day romantics in their core.
They fear what is coming next. And you remember perhaps what is said about fear: "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."