What I got out of it is that no-one was able to think himself out of it and with 'it' I mean that whole ants nest they are in. They are so raised in the system, used to it and the theories are so confused (like 'economics') that it's just impossible. They can only think inside the box and that box is defined by the system. I see this movie as an end result of democracy. It's much more scary and realistic than say '1984'. In 1984 the regime is explicit it does obvious propaganda. In THX it's all implicit it's just a given that the political system is what it is. It's not even stated, there's no "we are a democracy" even that is not stated there's just 'the news'. "the six recently elected representatives.."
This is a good take, the thing is both benign and dangerous. Reminds me of how people said the Nazis were just doing their jobs. Complacency in the face of abject abomination.
