> You can see the same dynamic in how scandals unfold in small towns. Everybody knows that married person X is having an affair with married person Y, everybody

> You can see the same dynamic in how scandals unfold in small towns. Everybody knows that married person X is having an affair with married person Y, everybody knows that everybody knows that X is having an affair with Y, but nothing happens until a social consensus is reached that X and Y are going to be shamed for it. See also: war on planet Earth, and the various just so narratives we all tell each other so no one has to take any serious responsibility for the debacle.