If we imagine the shape of the adoption of new morality like a wave, the adopters of the newest morality would be the crest of the wave while most are far behind them.
The newest adopters are the only ones aware of how far humanity has to go. For this reason, those on the leading edge are bound to suffer. The leading edge pulls the rest of us forward despite the opposing force of inertia.
Terrified at the prospect of everyone else leaving them in their amoral misery, those at the rear of the morality wave will act in amoral ways to hold the rest back, all the while claiming their own moral superiority.
Is this a societal system of control? I think that’s cynical; I call it the natural, inevitable arc of moral evolution.