People have been conditioned and habituated to letting their decisions be made for them because it's the easier way, especially when there are too many people in one place. Thinking and acting is hard, especially when we are individuated for profits and guilted by prophets. A group of people dropped in a wilderness will figure things out. A group of people in a civilization will stand around with their hands in their pockets waiting for someone to tell them what to do.

As the saying goes, "They can't pour piss out of a boot with the instructions on the heel." They're afraid they might do it wrong.