The institutional elite discovered that rage scales infinitely better than unity. A divided populace creates highly predictable voting blocks and captive consumer markets. This calculated division ensures that the industry of outrage remains fully funded and sustained.

Yeah, idk man. I’m not sure it’s primarily a result of some highly organized conspiracy. I think a society that doesn’t just tolerate antisocial behavior but celebrates it, shouldn’t be surprised when people behave in antisocial ways. When you promote the idea that each of us is an atomized, autonomous, wholly self-interested individual, don’t be surprised when people behave that way. When every aspect of a person’s life becomes transactional, and everyone is only out for themselves, it shouldn’t be surprising that mistrust and suspicion become commonplace. I don’t wonder if my fellow Americans are totally indifferent toward me and my needs and struggles, I know they are. I know that I’m on my own, I know that it’s every man for himself and I know that any attempt to change that culture is met with aggressive hostility.

Many, maybe even most Americans, want to keep it this way. They want to keep the selfishness, the greed, the indifference to the suffering of others, the lack of empathy. “It’s a you problem, not a me problem. I got mine, screw you.” They like that way of thinking and they want to keep it that way, a society built on the dark triad: narcissism, sociopathy and machiavellianism. We’re adversaries because our society is inherently adversarial. It’s a zero sum game, we’re all in competition with one another for increasingly scarce resources. We compete for jobs, for housing in the good, safe neighborhoods with the good schools. We’re rivals, we’re opponents.

So, yeah, I hate that, and I hate the people who like it this way and want to keep things the way they are. I hate them, and they hate me, and that’s America.