Yes, that's how it works in science fiction show for teenagers from the 60s.

It's painfully hard to compare that to the real world.

But at least, sci fi viewers can graduate to more serious shows with increasingly complex narratives (B5, bsg, I hear good things about the expense, etc...) then discover the really dystopian shit when they realize they live in it - or decide to become tech entrepreneur to get rich building the dystopia themselves.

But you can't blame the storytellers from trying to tell a better story than the news...

May the kid inside you, who once believed in the "good folks", rear up his metaphorical heads once in a while.