When I was a kid the pollution was so bad in the US, we learned about acid rain. They made changes that nobody liked, but the acid stopped failing from the sky and people accepted it was a better situation.
Change takes energy to implement. It is much easier to not make the change, and for the most part people are just lazy. It takes a determine group to decide to expend the energy to get the changes started.
Still the forgetting part in the danger, the complacency.
I think that’s why the US is in the state it’s in politically. Too good for too long means people are willing to let it get silly again.
I remember this, but it's been decades since I last heard someone mention "acid rain". Young adults today have probably never heard of it. Forgetting the past (or never learning about it in the first place) is a great way to repeat it.
Change takes energy to implement. It is much easier to not make the change, and for the most part people are just lazy. It takes a determine group to decide to expend the energy to get the changes started.