Glenn Beck once had an author on (whose name escapes me) who wrote about "the normalcy bias." He spoke about how many people will die in emergency situations, like a plane crash, because they fail to grasp the dire circumstances surrounding them and act accordingly. They refuse to acknowledge their actual situation, and instead act as if everything is OK (the normalcy bias).
We all talk to people every day who are deeply infected with the normalcy bias. Even people who agree with us about public policy and the state of the country fall victim to it as they allow the activities of everyday life to lull them into a false sense of normalcy. It is really difficult to get enough people to stand up because we have so many distractions, and to stand up for what is right might mean losing something ("stuff", relationships, job, etc.) as a result. But if we don't stand up in a real, tangible way soon we will reach a point where we won't have much left to lose anyway.
And maybe that's what it's going to take. Maybe the clueless idiots among us will only learn their lesson once they've tasted the bitter fruit of their choices. Unfortunately, I don't think it's possible to underestimate the foolishness of a large segment of society.
Had the Babylonians been apprised of what Cyrus was about, or had they noticed their danger, they would never have allowed the Persians to enter the city, but would have destroyed them utterly; for they would have made fast all the street-gates which gave upon the river, and mounting upon the walls along both sides of the stream, would so have caught the enemy, as it were, in a trap. But, as it was, the Persians came upon them by surprise and so took the city. Owing to the vast size of the place, the inhabitants of the central parts (as the residents at Babylon declare) long after the outer portions of the town were taken, knew nothing of what had chanced, but as they were engaged in a festival, continued dancing and reveling until they learnt the capture but too certainly. Such, then, were the circumstances of the first taking of Babylon.
- Herodotus