>I can't recall a time where the general populace was this vulnerable, ill-informed, traumatized and submissive.
I don't know why you think this is the case; the general populace seems less submissive now than ever before. Consider how much opposition there is to Israel's bombing of Gaza among the western populace, even though almost all the elites support it. Or how the uptake rate for the latest covid vaccine boosters is under 10%, even though almost all the experts and elites support it.
I don't think you can draw inferences from comparing an anti-Iraq-war march with an anti-Israel-bombing-Gaza march. Protesting to convince your own government to stop an invasion is a much more direct and tangible thing than marching to stop it supporting another government, such an invasion inflicts a direct cost in lives and materiel paid by your own country, and citizens feel a stronger moral involvement.
I think there's a new large category of uncritically-accepted norms, perhaps much larger than expressing political opinions. I'm thinking about smartphone adoption, mass surveillance, the big yawn at NSA datacenters, the flattening and consolidation of culture (music, tv, hollywood, etc), the normalization of extreme, zero-sum thinking with regard to race, gender and inequity regardless of political affiliation -- for me, this kind of thing is more interesting than stated "beliefs", and certainly more material.
It seems unusual that there are so many frameworks, like describing computers as having "memory" (see: O'Gieblyn) or describing people as having "race", that have quietly gone from the theoretical plane, where they were useful, to being unchallenged fact. Again, this appears to be non-partisan -- and actually helps to explain some of the weirder behaviors of our markets and global politics.
it definitely means something that all that Western opposition appears, at the moment, to have zero effect on Israeli military decision-making. And who would expect it to?
> to Israel's bombing of Gaza among the western populace, even though almost all the elites support it. Or how the uptake rate for the latest covid vaccine boosters is under 10%, even though almost all the experts and elites support it.
I'm not sure how significant either of those examples are, although I agree with your point for other reasons (mainly "Extinction Rebellion").
For Israel vs. Palestine, there is a large scale propaganda war on both sides that is, unusually, actually getting through this time. Partly because X isn't filtering such things anymore, but also propaganda is a constantly moving target.
For the latest Covid booster, while I have had the latest booster, I only know it existed because my partner already got it. No government campaign telling me about it.
I don't know why you think this is the case; the general populace seems less submissive now than ever before. Consider how much opposition there is to Israel's bombing of Gaza among the western populace, even though almost all the elites support it. Or how the uptake rate for the latest covid vaccine boosters is under 10%, even though almost all the experts and elites support it.