People have too much to lose, but they've also stopped people from having human interaction and ruminating on things. When there were only 2-3 TV channels, etc.... people were actually forced to think about things. They talked about in grocery stores, they smoked and pondered things in their apartments, etc.... Black Panthers, Militias, ACTUP, NOW, etc..... All those little things and groups that that scared government a bit were essentially people sitting around, thinking and being angry till they decided to do something good or bad. That's gone now.
Now people post dozens of memes on twitter, facebook, etc.... think "got 'um LOL". And that's the extent of their activism. And no one really gives a shit about online horseshit.