The general public doesn't care about corruption if it doesn't affect them directly and if their basic needs are met. As long as the valuation of their housing keeps going up and so is their pension, they don't care what corrupt shit those in power are doing. It's the "fuck you I got mine" human mentality.
I would argue that it is more of learned helplessness.
My experience from 35 years of democracy in my country is that either you vote for corrupt old crooks, or you vote for outsider rebels who promise to uproot corruption only to become corrupt crooks themselves once they got to the levers of power.
Once you witness the same process iterating itself five or six times, you start regarding corruption as approximately as inevitable as aging or bad weather.
The general public doesn't care about corruption if it doesn't affect them directly and if their basic needs are met. As long as the valuation of their housing keeps going up and so is their pension, they don't care what corrupt shit those in power are doing. It's the "fuck you I got mine" human mentality.