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Is that because American high schools are vastly different or is it American culture? The big difference I see between American culture in general is the sense of focus on indignities suffered, things that are lacking, or the bad feelings these things engender.
I think a large measure of violence, especially the spree-shooting type of violence is caused by the way Americans are taught to expect things and to focus on feelings of indignity, failure, and other negatives. There’s a pervading meme of entitlement in America, and as others have said, finding fault with the outside world when the promised good life fails to materialize. If there were a profile of the spree-shooter, it would go something like this:
A child of middle class parents, [shooter] had drifted in life, ending up with very few friends, a low wage job, often had failed out of college or trade school. He/she (most often a he) spent most of his time online, and had very few friends and no significant other. He/she often still lives at home.
The child has a problem of failure to launch or at least successfully launch. He’s been sold on the idea of the American dream, where he’s supposed to have a good job, a girlfriend, lots of friends, and their own place. They have none of that, they’re supposed to, but they don’t. And the other part of this is because of the growth of esteem culture (the idea that everyone is just naturally good and worthy without the need for growth and change), and therapeutic culture (the idea that all feelings are valid and true and you should fully welcome them and dwell on them) creates a toxic stew in people who for various reasons don’t have what they were promised, aren’t ever going to get it, and are doing exactly what society says to do — stew in the negative energy and negative feelings.
Now other cultures have done much better. Confucians believe in enjoying the moment, in looking to self-cultivation, and in fulfilling social obligation. Traditional religions say “this is God’s will”. Stoicism and Buddhism say that clinging to things is bad and makes you miserable. In any other system, the idea is not “rage against the world and the people who have wronged you,” that’s American culture where we see not getting our way less as a common part of the human experience, but as a sign of great injustice that must be fixed. Shooting people, essentially, is the equivalent of the child who throws a tantrum because mom wouldn’t buy him a toy at Walmart.
Yes. I agree with everything you said, but you put it more eloquently than I did. Thank you. The entitlement and immaturity of American people is really shocking after you've spent time away from it for a while, from my experience as an American.
When I was in Europe recently, people kept asking me about Karens in America. I didn't understand why everyone was so hung up on Karens, surely Europeans have Karens too? But then I realized that they really don't have the same culture of entitlement that America has, so they largely don't have Karens either. School shooters are basically operating with the same mindset as Karens but with guns instead of screaming at an Apple store employee. People in Europe also seem more secure in their place in society, it would be ridiculous for a rich Frenchwoman to scream at a clerk for example, it's just not done because people have internalized their own class and status in a way that America has yet to solidify.
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