Fear factor: The cycle that drives assault weapon sales

[Igel]

5. Of course.

Then again, the article talks of fellow Americans as though they were somehow some strange species not fully investigated. That let's you know that they're operating from ignorance.

"We" understand others if we bother to communicate with them, hobnob with them, and think of them as our fellows and equals. Considering how many hundreds of thousands of "those people" there are, possibly millions of them, you'd think they could find one that would speak of themselves in a moderately self-introspective fashion. Instead they figure it's better to pay an outsider.

Whenever an outsider tries to characterize the motives and goals of a group, they usually put things in their own terms and frame them in terms of their own values for their own goals, not that of the group under study.

And some outsiders think that a few minutes' work can reveal greater insights than those in the group itself have. Next up: Narcissistic Personality Disorder among Reporters and Media Writers.