"The US-ers, especially males, seem to be infatuated with STAGED toughness and violent spectacle that makes them look mean and threatening: they like to talk tough, buy menacing gear (guns, SUVs, combat attire), make threatening postures, vicariously participate in violent spectacles - which give them an illusion of virility and control which they lack in their emasculated suburban and corporate lives (at the same time, they tend to be quite docile and sheepish in everyday interaction)."
All this pretend male-bravado is a good thing, with spectator sports providing an important relief valve in society. It is my opinion that the Baseball Strikes of the mid 90's was the main reason the Republicans had large gains in the 1994 Congressional election.
I was working construction at the time, building a large home on the shore of Lake Charlevoix. My fellow hammer swingers were a-political and usually listened to the Detroit Tigers on a boom box. Thanks to the strike, the radio was switched to Rush Limbaugh and G. Gordon Liddy. After a summer of this, the entire crew was whipped into a frothy conservative lather and some voted for the first (and likely last)time.