As the Romans said, "panem et circenses"; nowadays in the first world, even the relatively poor classes have access to a plenty of cheap entertainment and food;

As the Romans said, "panem et circenses"; nowadays in the first world, even the relatively poor classes have access to a plenty of cheap entertainment and food; it's perhaps not good but it's enough to take off enough of the edge that people are merely angry but not so desperate (for the masses - individual exceptions of course happen, but they don't matter) to actually go ahead and risk their lives trying to change everything.