The upshot is complacency about the past, though of a different kind.
The relative complacency of the British, on the other hand, is also culturally determined.
Contrary to the complacency among Labour's campaign chiefs, until the last year – when Ukip was taking four or five Tory voters for every one Labour voter – in 2015 the Ukip share of the vote was higher in Labour-held seats than in Conservative-held ones.
The United manager has even left himself open to the charge of complacency.
I am fed up with complacency and cronyism, and I'm fed up with the floppy-haired Eton club Richard Desmond The newspaper publisher is the owner of the Sunday Express, the Daily Star and OK! magazine, as well as Television X and the Red Hot adult channels, although he strongly rejects descriptions of himself as a pornography baron.
Justin Welby said foreign correspondents and war reporters were a "God-given calling to inspire others to serve our common humanity" and helped challenge people's complacency that what happened elsewhere in the world "did not matter".
That roughly paints a picture of history – Kilmarnock as the more prominent and successful club – but Kenny Shiels's men must be wary of complacency, their erratic form aside. Ayr have won the past four League Cup meetings between the teams and have bundled three SPL sides – Inverness, Hearts and St Mirren – out of this season's competition.
A Guardian straw poll on York Road, where at least four of the contenders have rented empty shops for the campaign, suggests that enough Labour voters plan to defect or stay at home to dispel any complacency.
More dangerous, perhaps, is the complacency or fatalism that a reliance on genes can foster.
A survey by PwC of about 2,000 Britons found there is a danger of complacency as people's confidence in their ability to stay on top of their debts increases.
George Osborne strained every sinew to demonstrate both that there would be no complacency in his approach, and that his plan must be allowed to continue.
