" ... new diseases of the body social that have emerged from the diet of junk food junk media, junk science, junk culture, junk punditry, junk economics, people treating one another and their society like junk that America has fed upon for too long."
I blame consumerism, and exploitation. We are more obsessed with a fancy house and the latest SUV - both 45% bigger than we really need - than with anything else. And the same formula applies to almost all areas of consumption.
Put conversely, to examine the effects, we are not valuing our own capital, the value that we earn. We give it all away in fat profits to whoever is selling us the products of the consumer lifestyle. And we'll mortgage our future - our income stream - and pay a fat interest premium to a bank - to obtain it all, or any part of it.
Many are subconsciously angry at this process of being fleeced, even though they do it willingly and cannot help themselves. We want violent digital fantasies as games and movies more than we want a quiet evening with our kids building inner strength.
I wonder what percentage of Americans have ever read a classic or a 5 pound biography of a great American? I'd bet it's less than 15%. These books nurture the inner self by showing how people got to where they did. Hint: it was not by consumerism on the low end of humanity, or by social media.