Both you and u/acp_k2win are 100% correct, but this begs the question, why are the humanities so influential?

I'd wager it's because people are flawed, life is hard and people will continually seek escapism if given the opportunity.

By controlling the avenues for escapism that exist, you can control the narrative. By controlling the narrative you can reinforce good cultural values, but by creating avenues for escapism, you're also enabling undesirable behavior. To do something positive, you need to do something negative. It's a quandary.