But we must ask why so many people in this culture do these terrible things. We live in a world where corporations have propagandized us to believe only the strong survive, and have planted fear of others that aren't like us to divide us against each other so they can continue their transfer of more and more wealth to a few.
Most people struggle to make ends meet, live under constant fear stemming from economic insecurity - worried about losing health insurance, or just becoming ill if they don't have insurance. A whole segment of our population has no benefits, and experiences absolute intolerance from employers if they are sick, or end up being late, no matter the reason. A huge number of these working poor smoke, are obese, or worse, take drugs. Why? To escape.
Trump called countries over in Africa 'shit holes,' but the capitalists have made this country a shit hole for most Americans. They really have.
Part of human nature is to strike out at those who are hurting us, and when someone doesn't have the capacity to strike back at what can colloquially be called 'the man,' then they strike out at those who are physically weaker. They feel weak, so they oppress those around them in order to feel strong.
It is all about greed. It always has been. If we organized our society around human need and recognized those who feverishly amass huge amounts of wealth as what they are - freaks - then people would feel a sense of meaning, of belonging, of having reasonable power over their destiny. Doubtless there would still be abuses, but I do not believe they would be as frequent or as egregious.
But then, I am and have always been an idealist, and what I see, unfortunately, is that our common sense of human decency, compassion and belongingness has been systematically and purposefully dulled by monied interests - billionaires and big capitalists. So, as Pink Floyd says, we have become comfortably numb. Unfortunately with this numbness comes all sorts of aberrant behavior.
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