I think this is related to why people say the great depression happened slowly and then suddenly: you are actually in the depression long time before unavoidabl

I think this is related to why people say the great depression happened slowly and then suddenly: you are actually in the depression long time before unavoidable events overtake the slow pace. The events in Sri Lanka were semi normalised, much as life in Belfast in the 1970s normalised bomb outrages. People did not flee the city en masse, they just kinda worked around things and pretended it wasn't PTSD central. People didn't flee Sri Lanka if they could work around the collapse of society. People have normalised living in an economy where your neighbours may disappear with unidentified ICE agents, if somebody thinks they aren't legal, irrespective of paperwork or citizenship. People have normalised having no idea if the court system applies to WH decisions, economic indicators being yo-yo, prices rising, Fox news not reflecting their observed reality, you name it, they've normalised it.