Each generation has it's good, bad and average. Take a hard look at ... well, just the history of the UK. The press, just in the late 1600's, Swift, Defoe and others, spewed invective and lies in the publications they worked for. Both parties were corrupt, visibly and proudly corrupt. Tories tried to corner the cross-Atlantic slave trade, fortunes were made. Move into the last Queen Anne's reign and see how she was manipulated into deserting her allies during the war with France. And, that's just one reign.
I could cite early US history also. Newspaper in the North publishing lies, treason?, during the Civil War. Editors shipped to Canada. Citizens with money paying poorer folk to take their place in the Army. Such was legal incidentally. New York race riots. And, it goes on.
Lotta truth in the adage, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Human behavior really hasn't changed over the eons. Some are leaders, some followers. Some want to dominate others. Some want to simply be left to their own devices. Others simply want us all "to get along." I doubt the percentages of prey and predators ever changes with many people assuming both roles over their life span. I love the car buying analogy, both the buyer and the salesperson are attempting to prey on the other.