>>Could it also be jealousy? Not that I want to sound nuts, but I've often
>>wondered if the most vociferous law & order vultures' outrage stems from
>>the fact that a criminal can commit acts they resent being denied the
>>freedom to engage in. And to rationalize this they use the cry of "eye
>>for eye" and righteousness to veil their own sadism. Any thoughts?
>>
>
>A sort of Nietzschean speculation: I like it. But why is that peculiarly
>American?
Well, let's speculate then! It could be to do with (a) the degree to which the predominating religion/cultural norms put the kybosh on, and thus possibly magnify and sublimate, certain urges, and (b) the degree to which the predominating ideology frames others as constraints or even threats to the self. A constrained protestantism in concert with a fiercely individualistic neoliberalism (some might argue these are corollaries) has gotta make for a pretty ugly soup, no?
Avenues for release must be found - must indeed be institutionalised - mebbe by way of duly objectified others copping the wages of their debauched deviance. If that were the case, you might look for a cinema tradition sporting a genre in which promiscuous coeds get mutilated and slaughtered a lot; or a television genre which frames the humiliation of the young and beautiful as 'reality tv', or a social caste system whereby the most oppressed would be framed as voluptuously wanton (mebbe even particularly well endowed downstairs); or a widespread taste for embarrassing afternoon confessionals purporting to represent the bacchanalian essence of said castes; or, for the ultimate petite morte, ol' Sparky hisself.
S'pose it's all in *Natural Born Killers*, really ...
Cheers, Rob.