I work at hospitals in my area and while I have come across some people who have at least a small amount of awareness of what’s happening, a lot of them are simply unaware. If I break it down to groups, I see:
A large amount of people who are preoccupied with work and paying some heavy bills. One example is a friend of our’s who is currently paying multiple mortgages. “I can’t pay attention to AntiFa, I got bills to pay!”
Another group of people who have overly hectic home lives (at least in THEIR own mind, it’s hectic). One example is a friend of our’s who has four kids of her own and is fostering two others, trying to adopt a fifth, and the two they’re fostering are medically needy. “I don’t know what’s going on with politics. I’m Republican, but I have too much going on here to pay much attention to that stuff!” They say “Republican” like it’s a political philosophy, rather than just a party.
Father in law just had open heart surgery and now has to deal with the lifestyle changes that come with having what is essentially a bionic left ventricle. He pays attention to politics and events usually, but that’s not been in his focus for some months now.
Then you get the groups of people who are pacified with their vices. One former coworker would work primarily to pay the bills for his apartment, but food and gas, and support his life of video gaming. This is the guy who said to me “I know logically that I SHOULD learn to change my own tire, and that’s not a hard thing to do, I’m sure. I just have no desire to do it at all.” He pretended to be an up-to-date, event-watching intellectual, but he was little more than a couch potato gamer. Then you get the vices others are absorbed in: Drinking, gambling, drugs, multiple trips to the gym daily, partying, etc.
