As has been said before, "they" are getting better at derailing collective behavior. The key tactic is to interrupt communication, and convince people that they are just isolated, powerless dingbats, and real power comes from kissing the oligarch's asses--a la Infraguard.

infraguard

The Achilles heel of the consumer society's rulers is the ability of the people to bring the biggest corporation to it's knees by simply withholding their trade. It's necessary to cooperate to do this, however.

See? Those subversive "CO- words" again.

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.