That is easy.

And its not about religion per say either.

Though I know you will want to make this thread into a bully pulpit for atheism yet again if I don't miss what your implying...yet to do so is to miss the forest for the trees....since religion is only one of those trees the forest of oppression.

It's the same "they" that's always been there...the tyrants, the grossly and inordinately wealthy, the one's who hold all the chips ....those who hold the "actual" power over the rest of us.

Sometimes they rule well. Sometimes they don't.

They have been with us since the beginning. It's well known amongst anthropologists that such things are a byproduct of human group behavior in our dominance hierarchy relationships.

Whether we are aware of such things or not in our day to day lives depends upon how much it affects our own bread and circuses. For the most part the system works but it follows cycles where the one's in power become more and more corrupt over time and a societal reset button eventually gets pressed by the masses if things go too far or some other factors don't come into play to change the precieved inequalities.

It also is shown to transcend religious, philosophical and political afiliations (since it takes place universally regardless of such distinctions world wide in every culture to one extent or another) and is directed by the upper levels of society unto the lower to keep them productive and in line. Which in some cases; as in the example provided by the op, is directed upon one business by another due to fears of the general public's "perceptions" affecting one's profit margin.