Stuff happens Donovan

Despite our American bragging about equality, you surely know better. We have an enormous gulf between the rich and poor, and a shrinking middle class. Our entertainment media convinces many that to be less than wealthy is to be worthless. Face it: most TV shows present the middle class and the poor to be stupid and incapable of being honest. (Stop me now before I lose my objectivity here.)
While I in no way approve of taking up a life of crime for any reason (and realizing that what *is* crime varies in society), I can recognize some of the causes. Illicit drug trafficking and use are usually rampant where little respect for self and others prevails. A violent lifestyle emerges, and those of us who try to avoid these people feel ill at ease and challenged when confronted by one we might feel is a part of "that" world. Hence a heightened psychological need for protection and self-defense.
I'm no exception, I'm an old geezer and "sot" in my ways. I watch the same news you do. The news media distorts our perception of the world around us, and magnifies any trouble they report. I, like many if not most others, try to find the middle of all this, but the light is poor and shadowy.
Please forgive our attitudes if they don't coincide with that of other societies. but were are raised in ours.