Ordinary folks were focused on their political beliefs and day to day life. Now we live in a non-focused universe. The nearest comparison would perhaps fit the epoch of the Roman empire. The present big tensions which seem to shake the apparent stability of the Industrialized World seem self-generated, meaning we are looking for troubles more than troubles look for us. On the other hand we may have no choice.
Lets take, for example, an active underwater volcano.
The water boils in its immediate vicinity, the more distant the epicentre, the calmer and cooler the water. The exchanges between the warmer and cooler currents become more and more discreet. The USA is the epicentre of boiling energy affecting the rest of the world. Among equal partners the world could function according to the MacLuhan vision of the Global Village. But the law of supply and demand. conditioned mostly by the super epicentre makes MacLuhan's conception unrealisable.