One big problem that I see in America, which is not addressed on here, is manliness. Being a man, being tough. I see it on here all the time. "Our men have become pussies." There is this pervasive attitude in America to be a man and take no be nice from anyone. Well, what does it mean to "be a man?" I think that has become quite skewed, honestly, by the media and the internet. Our manly role models have become thugs, gangsters, MMA fighters, and just deplorable people. We are not celebrating heroes in the community putting food on strangers' tables, or creating jobs. It's the guy that is physically tougher than some other guy. This thinking, in my opinion, is perpetuating this attitude that to be a man, you must exhibit violence so others are afraid of you.
I also see a ton, a literal ton, of violent media being put out. During the Super Bowl, one of the first commercials was to promote a violent movie where all the solutions where solved by using guns. Bring back Viagra commercials b/c I'll explain that to my child any day instead of having to explain why there's so much violence. Look at your local listings. The family sitcoms have been replaced with shows that deal with solving murders or stopping terrorism. Not only is it monotonous and lazy, but it creates fear in people that is not warranted.
Video games are massively out of line. I grew up with all sorts of wacky, weird games and sports games. That's all we had. Now, everything is "shoot this alien" or "shoot these people in war." Don't even get me started on the Grand Theft Auto games. On your phone, right now, you can download dozens of games aimed at killing people.
Go to Youtube and it's a veritable potpourri of violence from music videos, video game walk throughs, movie trailers, and then there's a whole genre of street fighting/road rage videos you can watch that have literal MILLIONS of hits. If you take 2 seconds to look, you can find videos of people shooting other people. To the right brain, this is going to be a dramatic catalyst into perpetuating violent acts. One of the motivating factors for Adam Lanza was notoriety and this need to hold a record in mass shooting casualties.
Let's be honest here. We as a society are awash in violence. Child brains are not formed enough to understand the difference. Many do get it, but it only takes one child to do a lot of damage. It's often said that it takes a village to raise a child, and America as a collective village has really dropped the ball. Instead of creating solutions, we're all finger pointing. It's on here, too, calling Democrats dumocrats, and throwing liberal around like it's a dirty word. Gun control is not the answer because that ship has sailed. There are too many guns out there, and if someone is determined enough they will get their hands on one. If that fails, making explosives is one click away on the internet.
Like terrorism, I believe this is going to become part of our new normal, and we're going to have to just learn to live with it. That's a very scary sentence to write out. Because there is still no amount of gun control, or mental health funding, or praying that is going to stop this. Stuff happens, and God I hope it really, really slows down.