Why is the USA so violent?

1. 93

   peeplesposted 9 years ago

   Why is the USA so violent?
   
   Why is our violence rate comparable to places like Pakistan, Columbia, and Russia?

   replyreport
2. 92

   FatFreddysCatposted 9 years ago

   Because humans are a belligerent species hellbent on destroying themselves as quickly as possible.

   replyreport
   1. 93

      peeplesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Why do USA humans seem to do this more than the majority of other countries?

      replyreport
   2. 92

      FatFreddysCatposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It's not just the USA. Look at Gaza/Israel, the Ukraine, Nigeria, etc., etc.

      replyreport
3. 39

   ChristinSposted 9 years ago

   It is an interesting question isn't it? Compare us to Canada - both have large amounts of guns, watch a lot of the same TV and movies etc. yet when you go to Canada, they have a mindset that is not nearly as mired in fear as ours is.
   
   For whatever set of reasons, US citizens are more violent than many nations.  It is an interesting thing to ponder and I really don't understand all the reasons.  I know our media here is quite different than in other countries.  Here it's all about sensationalism and fear.  If you watch news programs from other countries, they tell what's going on, but not from a biased angle or trying to "puff things up" to incite people and get ratings.  It's more neutral.  That could be one facet of it I suppose, but I suspect there are many things in play.  We also tend to glorify violence in our society which desensitizes us to a lot of things I suspect.
   
   As to "why" we tend to react more violently - it's truly baffling.

   replyreport
4. 0

   Sri Tposted 9 years ago

   Because the people here can't tolerate abuse. They automatically click into revenge mode. People like to abuse and mistreat people with no repercussions. Everybody sees or experiences rude behavior or a diss everyday. Just like those who go postal, they snap for a reason. Actually there are many reasons for violence, but it usually comes back to the violent person being abused or bullied in some way, possibly as a child. Others are wired to take whatever they want from people. They have parents who don't care. So they are in the streets late night every day with bad people and criminals. In the streets of big cities, anything goes.

   replyreport
5. 60

   CHRIS57posted 9 years ago

   There are 2 criteria to be considered.
   1. Distribution of wealth and income - very unbalanced in the USA and absolutely comparable to other violence hot spots like Russia, South Africa, Brazil.
   2. Access to fire arms - the USA has it in its constitution.
   If you combine both criteria: you get what you have in the USA.
   If only one criteria applies, things look much less desperate. Examples: China and UK for fairly high income inequality but very restricted access to fire arms - no violence issue.
   Switzerland for easy access to fire arms but much more accepted income distribution.
   And then - travel to Scandinavia (with equal income distribution and fire arm restrictions) and you don´t see any police or law enforcement for days and weeks in the streets.

   replyreport