where we read: <<<why, out of all the industrialized/computerized nations on Earth, the US is filled with so many semi-educated/semi-literate reactionary blowhards who feel no shame in shouting their psychotic, violent opinions, primarily in cyberspace, for the rest of the planet to see.>>>
I generally go with your drift, but I think I also phrased that somewhat differently, entertaining at least two possibilities: greater incidence of such individuals (i.e. more of them as a share of the population) - which you hint in your posting - or greater salience (i.e. greater visibility even though their share of the population is not much different from those in other countries). Subtle distinction, but makes all the difference for the explanation that follows, which assumes it is salience rather than incidence.
While we are at that - I observed a certain tendency of this medium to interpret what is being posted in terms of sound bites and surface meanings, while missing some of the underlying subtleties. I like this medium very much because it gives me an opportunity of an immediate reply, but at the same giving me enough time to think over and carefully compose what I want to say (which is essentially absent from a face-to-face conversation).
Contrary to some dudes on this list who accused me of poor communication skills, I generally compose my postings very carefully and often take efforts to add several layers to them: innuendos, allusions, etc. some of it designed to provoke a controversy, some of it providing parenthetical remarks which are popular in certain academic styles. (While we are at that, even though English is my second language which I started learning at the age of 27, my communication skills are superior to those of some three fourths of the native population, a fourth of which is functionally illiterate).
I noticed however, that much of those "add-ons" are often missed by people who bother to respond to my postings, albeit I am not sure how much of it is a deliberate distortion to create a straw man, and how much it is thinking in sound bites and missing the more subtle aspects of the message. The latter is certainly to be expected in the tee-vee brainwashed populace, but this list comprises mostly highly intelligent and well educated people. So it is a bit surprising.
What I am trying to say here is asking for a more nuanced reading of what is being posted. I understand it is a high volume list, but most of us are also intelligent people who deserve more than a superficial reading and reduction to a caricature.
PS. This is not intended as criticism of your posting - but rather treats that posting as an opportunity to make certain general observations.
Wojtek