causal
Complacency in comfortable societies
Western societies, particularly the professional middle class, have grown deeply complacent because they have coasted for a long time on conditions that are getting a little worse but remain tolerable, unlike earlier generations who, having experienced world war, smallpox, and the alternative, were delighted by liberal institutions, vaccines, and pasteurization.
causalpending
Speaker
Helen LewisEvidence Quote
“i think we've just been coasting for a really long time on things getting a little bit worse but for most people still extremely tolerable and so i think when i talk to people and this is true on both sides of the political aisle there is a kind of great deal of complacency about how bad the world can get”
Created: 6/14/2026, 2:01:10 AM
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