[lbo-talk] Why is America so violent

[bitch at pulpculture.org]

I didn't speak to the issue of whether we work less or more. What I said
was, it is irrelevant whether or not people are wrong about their
subjective experience of work stress and demands on their time. Objective
truth about their situation -- you aren't really working more but less! --
isn't going to change a fucking thing. Nor will snidery regarding what
they really spend their time on: tv watching. IF people expect more out of
their jobs -- like fulfillment etc, I said, then so the fuck what? If
those 'great expectations' mean they are disgruntled with their lot in
life and feel stressed out, as DH surmised, rilly and trooly, so the fuck
what? It is real enough to them to feel stressed out, regardless as to
what "baseline" they ought to be measuring their feelings on. The baseline
as to what i can expect in bed from my lover has changed one whole helluva
lot in the past 2 centuries. I'm really not interested in hearing, if I
happen to be with someone who shoots his wad in 2 minutes, that I really
ought to remember that years ago, I might have gotten that wad in two
minutes and been mopping floors on my hands and knees all day beforehand
and maybe an ass whoppin' if I didn't get the floors just right (my great
grandma's life, by and large). even my own lesbian relationships have
changed tremendously in just two decades as to what I should expect out of
life.

speaking of Great Expectations, an excellent read (though dated now) is
Elaine Tyler May's work about how 'great expectations' about married life
and the disparity between reality and expectations lead to a wave of
divorces in the progressive era is quite good.