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The interesting counterpoint to that has been the reaction to data centers and to license plate readers.
It may be better to say that the US has a culture we’ve forgotten how to get angry and organize ourselves. But, roughly speaking, if people are drawn out of their house and congregate someplace something much more familiar happens. You see people showing up at city council meetings to have their say.
The alternatives are drowned out, and that is a gigantic hurdle. Once a population is atomized on they need to be educated how to be a group.
For all the trouble religious conservatism has created in the United States. People’s religious affiliation is a fragment of social connection that still can be drawn up upon. Religious affiliation that’s more about community is also at a disadvantage because all the insane nut jobs are the ones given the megaphone.
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@GhostOnTheHalfShell Yep! It's been great to see! And there are other examples throughout the years where some segment of the population become activated but more often than not it's still a very small percentage, a very tiny minority of people that get activated: the anti-globalization movement, BLM, Occupy Wall Street, various anti-war movements...
BUT....
...sadly, those issues come and go and most folks (in my observation) fade back to inactivity rather than take on a broad-based acknowledgement of responsibility and long-term action. They get motivated for a short while and then they quit.
What has been missing is an understanding that "democracy" if it's to be anything at all has to be a lived, active process of engaged citizenship. Unfortunately USians were lured into a culture of hyper-consumerism instead.