A term I just learned about that really describes everything right now: hypernormalisation. The elaborate pretense that clearly and obviously failing systems are not failing and everything is ok. Originally coined to describe life just before the Soviet Union collapsed, but also applies to late stage capitalism.
Crucially, it does not imply a conspiracy. It is engaged in by the majority of society, because the alternative is unbearable and unimaginable.
The "This is fine" dog is an example of hyper-normalization.
@dawngreeter perhaps I could interest you in this Adam Curtis documentary https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperNormalisation
I very much enjoyed all watched over by machines of loving grace.
@Geoffberner I do think human nature is a part of it. Of course, there are clearly individuals and power centers that drive a large chunk of it. There is blame, both for action and inaction (this mostly being various government agencies and institutions).
But even for the complicit ones, I do think there is an element of human nature driving situational blindness. Late stage capitalism is a story of power centers and capital owners copying each other's actions and no one knowing why exactly.
There is a great BBC series by Adam Curtis called, "Hypernormalization."
Welcome to the post-truth world. You know it's not real. But you accept it as normal. But there is more out there. HyperNormalisation. « We live in a time of...
In, "1984" by Orwell, hypernormalization is called, "Doublethink."
"DOUBLETHINK means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them... The process has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt."
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