Sadly, this is the case across the entire world and not just in Western societies, but this was never because the core of Western thinking and philosophy ever truly endorsed it, but because the typical psychopaths got in control of key Western institutions.
It may be that certain cycles are unavoidable, but I personally think this is a bit of a cheap excuse. It's basically saying that either it's simply fate or it's somehow cyclically required to an uncontrollable degree rather than our collective fault for allowing these evils to metastisize in our society. If it's our collective fault then it means that we as a society and individually must be far more vigilant and responsible to stop such evils in the future before they fully manifest.
There is no collective. There is only people, and each of those people's idea of the collective is why many people abnegate their personal responsibility to conform to what they think the collective is doing.
This is why propaganda and censorship is so useful to those that would control society, and exactly why we bear personal responsibility regardless of what anyone else does. We aren't--ever--just following orders. We are always acting on our personal responsibility.
If you are allowing some evil to occur because it's too big for you to oppose alone, you are why it's too big to fight alone.
This is why I haven't had a bank account in almost 10 years. I am opposed to the financial control society is subject to, and I am waging war on the banksters by not feeding them.
I am winning.
Thanks very much for making this comment. You are absolutely correct. All the social media distraction (including Steemit) is ultimately about getting people to forget their individual responsibility as human beings and instead clamor for herd approval. As long as the social manipulators can place themselves as the key Pied Pipers in social media and alternative truth communities, the social media construct is designed as a Pavlovian system to reinforce staying with the common / popular narratives and actions.
It is our individual responsibility to break ranks and oppose all of these herd-based systems and controls. This is ultimately why the societal controllers hate genuine religion and spirituality. They hate that people hold onto individual ethical and moral behavior that requires them to do the right thing regardless of the herd. It also requires them to stand up to and call out lies and deception. It throws a wrench into their societal machinery designed to keep the sheeple in line. Every time we peacefully disobey and stand up for the real truth and action and not some bogus, socially engineered media or alternative media version of it (and there is a hell of a lot of this out there now), we are winning. We are creating new examples for others to follow and we are breaking the manipulators control on the masses.
You are correct, you are winning. Keep it up. We need more examples like yours to break the machinery of control.