I hate to think about the frightful reality it will take to jolt these people out of their stupor. I don't think they can change their thinking without seeing family and close friends imprisoned or killed, and at that point they will be too frightened to admit they've experienced an epiphany.
The great wealth of our society makes it possible for a very large percentage of the population -- approximately half, it would seem -- to completely "opt out" of reality. Once they become untethered, they fall prey to mass delusion, an alternate reality created for them by the media. This reality is internally consistent; the contradictions occur only at the interface points between it and the actual reality that the wage earners have to face. The Main Stream Media functions to keep the "interface points" hidden from the untethered population, and the government takes by force enough resources to keep the untethered population alive. The physical and psychological discomfort they experience as what are, essentially, "vote cows," can be mitigated and channelled by keeping their attention focussed on outside hobgoblins like Conservatives, Christians, Sarah Palin, etc
I say, ol' chap. You nailed it.
