There’s truth in that to a degree. But so long as mass media can stir the pot and create public anxiety where none existed before, even a strong egalitarian economic model is insufficient to deter interpersonal violence.
Americans bombarded by “Shoplifter Alert!” and “Murder Spree!” and “Rape Gangs Terrorizing Your Neighborhood!” news coverage are going to be deeply suspicious of anyone they don’t recognize (and more than a few they do recognize). People will lash out in fits of paranoia and induced terror, then claim self-defense against their victims. And if we’ve instilled a legitimacy to this fear in the general public, they’ll get away with it.
There’s truth in that to a degree. But so long as mass media can stir the pot and create public anxiety where none existed before, even a strong egalitarian economic model is insufficient to deter interpersonal violence.
Americans bombarded by “Shoplifter Alert!” and “Murder Spree!” and “Rape Gangs Terrorizing Your Neighborhood!” news coverage are going to be deeply suspicious of anyone they don’t recognize (and more than a few they do recognize). People will lash out in fits of paranoia and induced terror, then claim self-defense against their victims. And if we’ve instilled a legitimacy to this fear in the general public, they’ll get away with it.