How Americans Became So Sensitive to Harm
I suspect a large part of this is down to<p>1. People defaulting to the nuclear option constantly, in their reactions, and<p>2. People not wanting to accept that some issues are complex, and that a blanket approach doesn&#x27;t work.<p>The latter of these is the real issue. People love being outraged over the lack of women in STEM fields, and how those that are are treated, but few people talk about the lack of men in teaching it nursing roles. The former is seen as &quot;a problem&quot; and the latter isn&#x27;t. I&#x27;d argue that both are issues, but one is something that political groups get behind and the other isn&#x27;t.<p>As a different example, you could look at the issue of badger culls it fox hunting in the UK. The most outspoken people against both aren&#x27;t from the countryside, have never kept cattle or been on hunts, don&#x27;t understand (or want to think too much) about the issues involved, but know that badgers and foxes are cute.<p>It&#x27;s the infantilism of understanding; people wanting things to be black and white and easy to understand, where pretty much everything contentious, when you dig, is complex.<p>I suspect a lot of the blame for this is a combination of the short article and news industries, giving people the feeling of being informed without any of the substance to back it up, and the increasing politicisation of issues, where people hold views for reasons more tribal than rational.<p>Once you start believing that issues are simple, it&#x27;s easy to fit everything into that framework and to wander round being outraged or offended or insulted by things. Because you can read into life whatever you want.