While we were in Arizona, a man in Utah killed his wife and 5 children because she filed for divorce? Why?
Just like an economic bubble does not deflate in an orderly fashion., so my theory is that when resentment explodes it does not do so in a rational manner. This is like the irrational hatred of the Ste. Anne Manitoba dairy farmer who a few years ago burned his farm to the ground including his cattle, after he could not settle his divorce with his wife as he would have liked. If he couldn’t have the farm no one else could either. Isn’t that what the new world disorder is all about?
Like a balloon rarely deflates in an orderly fashion, so resentment rarely explodes in a rational manner. That’s why resentment is so dangerous. This is particularly significant to the most dangerous people on the planet—young men. Jihadis and other extremist groups have learned how important young men are to their cause. That is why they work so hard to radicalize them. Many of the lone wolf killers that are so common are young men filled with resentment. Many of them live in a cauldron of hate. The jihadis then take advantage of the resentment for their own purposes.
When society is in decline. resentment is amplified.
And they make us pay a hefty price.
Someone, it may have been, “The Marginalian” wrote that it could not even be termed “anomie” anymore. If anomie is the decay of society and social structure and institutions, what is happening now is even deeper. It’s the decay of the moral core upon which society is organized. Eons ago, we learned not to kill *every* stranger who approached our cave. As things progressed in the Mesopotamian outskirts, a chill dude with the initials JC was said to have wandered around in sandals and preached radical peace. Now we are getting back to that earlier “attack first, grunt later” approach and some are claiming the chill dude is backing this pre-emptive strike activity. I doubt that.
Keep giving us the good stuff, Meanderer!
I think you have hit the nail on the head with your notion of decay of the moral core.