Is America addicted to outrage?

[DetlefK]

1. Of course, but this is true for every human.

Of course humans are predisposed to outrage. Outrage is the mental state during conflict.

* The concept of flock/herd/tribe/nation only works when you can draw a difference between your group and another group, e.g. the territory where they live. But why is it necessary at all to be aware that the other group is "other"? Because they are competition. Being on the lookout for dangers is natural to humans.

* Pick a story. Any story. You have need a protagonist and an antagonist. The protagonist is the person from whose point of view you relive that story. And the antagonist is essentialy just an obstacle that keeps him from doing what he wants. The antagonist could be a villain, a force of nature, a lack of ressources/opportunities, an inherent weakness of the protagonist... Whatever it is, without an obstacle, the story is boring.
Example: "Homo erectus slays an antilope."
Protagonist: the hunter
Antagonist: the attribute "fast" of the antilope


We humans crave excitement, because being on the lookout was our natural state. Nowadays we have civilization. We don't have to flee from predators or to hunt prey. We sit all day and stare at computer-screens. But we still want that kick of being alert and alive.