Learning to Be Hostile
In U.S. culture, hostility seems to be growing to epidemic proportions. We are teaching each other that hostility is acceptable and even necessary. Recently in my local newspaper, a letter to the editor by Sana Rahman lamented that “people do not seem to have the same regard and respect for others that we used to have.” I have lived long enough to know she is right. Taking advantage of others is rampant. Everybody from corporations to individual free loaders want to feed at the federal trough. We legitimize free and undeserved stuff from government as entitlement. Ripping off taxpayers occurs at all levels, especially in health care programs, government contracts, tax returns, and in all manner of subsidies. Violence is all around us in video games and movies and in murders in cities like Chicago and New Orleans. We read of horror stories where onlookers of rapes and beatings regard it as entertainment, refusing to intervene or call the police. In some cities, police are tar...