I don't know about apathy
Human beings have always been very conformists. They wouldn't complain for anything (your lord taking all your food, wife and daughter? oh, well, that's life) unless it was terribly outrageous and their lives were on risk.

Now it's more or less the same, but we do get to complain and act for things that don't affect our lives directly (charity, for example)
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Thu 9 Jun 2011, 12:41, Reply)