Not absolving them of anything, but I think a bunch of it was done to them. They could be (more) functional people, even just from diet and exercise changes. Add in some moral code such as religion, or even just taking the communism out of the schools, and you'd get them almost back to normal.

They've fried their brains on the toxic slop that's been normalized by the organizations that hate us. I'm so glad more people are talking about health after the Dread Pandemic, because it really is a huge issue.

A huge chunk of the population's brains literally do not work right.