US Politics Mega-thread - Page 3125

On March 24 2021 08:23 ChristianS wrote:

IIRC regarding suicide specifically, the opposite dynamic usually occurs. Suicide is relatively higher among privileged populations, homicide relatively lower. The usual explanation being that it’s easier to attribute your problems externally if you’re underprivileged. If you feel like shit and like you’ll never amount to anything, but you’re rich and white and male and your dad tried to get you cushy jobs but you couldn’t hack it, it’s a lot harder to convince yourself it’s the world’s fault you failed.

Of course, homicide is one thing, and school shooting is another. I’m also speculating, but I think the rarer incel-type violence follows something closer to the dynamic you’re describing. Two or three generations removed from the absolute dominance of the world’s wealth we acquired after the world wars, it’s simply impossible to offer even the privileged in our society the same standard of living their parents and grandparents had, and a certain kind of shitty rich kid will occasionally decide that a) this is unforgivable, and b) it’s the fault of egalitarian social change over that period. Elliott Rodgers-type shooters clearly derive a lot of their motivation from a sense that everybody around them owes them some kind of fealty or tribute or something, and it’s hard for me not to think some part of that comes from the relative loss of upper class (or maybe upper-middle class) privilege.

Of course, the vast majority of upper-middle class white boys don’t shoot anybody, so there’s a lot more to the etiology than that. But TL;DR I’d guess you’re right overall but wrong on some particulars.

On March 25 2021 05:47 GreenHorizons wrote:
Kamala Harris pairing up with Bill Clinton of all people for a 1 on 1 discussion about the impact of the pandemic on/empowering women while Democrats balk at impeaching Cuomo seems kinda ridiculous to me.