And yet millions who should know better won’t care.

They are motivated to know better by the belief that governmental failure will hurt others more than them, giving them an elevated sense of social status when compared against a vast misery that will befall the Other:

If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you. — Lyndon Johnson

Human society fails because enough people will swap treating others with decency for being told they’re ‘special’ because they’re not (currently) going to be rounded up and sent to a re-education camp.