I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. The thing to remember here is that as gamers we are all reading the Jackpointer articles and splat books and such, so we have the collective knowledge of all the informed, enlightened, conspiracy theorists, etc. However, the average citizen of a country in the world of Shadowrun doesn't have access to that, and is largely oblivious of the actual behind-closed-doors deals and meetings of the people in power.
Oh sure, they may suspect that the powers that be are up to something, but that's hardly concrete evidence. Heck, they might even basically "know" that the megacorp CEOs and elected leaders are all greedy, selfish individuals that either buy other people or are bought themselves. But without the evidence shoved in their faces, the greater majority of people simply won't do anything about it. They'll bitch and gripe about the terrible things going on in the world, the trids they see and the articles they read depicting terrible events, and then they'll realize their coffee break is over and they'll happily put it out of their minds and wander back to their cubicles and go back to work, all the while happy that they live in such a developed, first-rate country where they have a job and college fund and relative peace and security.
And on that note, the other thing you have to remember is that almost ALL citizens of the world(not talking about the SINless, but even then they're far from universally aware) are spoon-fed propaganda and heavily-filtered and censored news from whatever federal or corporate government they happen to belong to. Look at Horizon. They are MASTERS of social engineering, and only very recently did their system of making faithful employees 100% loyal start to show any cracks. The great dragons are on par, if not well beyond the level of corporate CEOs(and in Lofwyr's case, he IS one) as far as far-reaching schemes and plans and machinations and webs of intrigue go. So if a megacorp can hide the truth from people, it shouldn't be very hard for a Great Dragon to do so, at least from the majority.
So yes, some people will always be aware of, suspect, theorize, and even work against the plans of the powers that be, but they are in the minority, and they are almost always required to do so in secret, covert ways, because people in power like to keep that power, and the easiest way to do that is to make the guy calling you out look like a raving lunatic. The media and political parties today already do that very effectively. SO without direct, in-your-face, they're-trying-to-kill-us evidence, most regular people won't do much. It's just easier and less trouble to keep your head down and ignore the little cracks in the facade around you, especially when you like the facade.
Oh, and as a last note, I really hope you weren't referring to your fellow posters/forum-users/debaters as "defeatists, cowards and bootlickers". Not exactly a spectacular way to try and win people over to your way of thinking.
