History is not a fixed star but a process between people, power & knowledge distribution. People in a given geographical area choose their path through categorization of reality; what they believe and what they see. For example, in Afghanistan ancestral tribes rule the land and modern governments are ineffectual. Because the family ties, the mountains and the underlying difference in ideology. In Mexico the Federal government does not reach to rural native communities. The indigenous community live under a different language, code of conduct and set of autonomous laws. The natural default position of all peoples is universal absolute freedom. People choose their enslavement for the sake of convenience, the comfort of the crowd and acculturated normalcy bias. Even with a standing government you will have power-vacuums. These power-vacuums are dependent on the extent of resilience & autonomy people are determined to exercise.
Do you watch and listen to other people? I try to watch and listen to all kinds of people.
I also try to get my information from many different people from across the political spectrum. I really enjoy listening to the other side and making a decision on the information presented. Sometimes I may listen to foreign analysis to get an outside perspective.