There is, by the way, a very compelling narrative which says that magic is 100% real, and the entire history of imperial power has been based on centralizing the practice of it within a small priesthood, and then making sure no one else gets it.

In history it was taught that magic is something to be avoided, and people who practiced it were murdered in gruesome ways. In modernity we are generally taught that it just doesn't exist, but the powers that be have a strange unexplained fixation on dosing everyone with fluoride, aluminum, and during the 20th century, lead.

Suppose the real reason for this was because these metals damage the brain enough to prevent higher states of consciousness necessary for the practice of magic.