A society in which it’s everyone for themselves, that refuses to care for one another, is no society at all. Then everyone acts shocked and horrified at someone who understandably snaps, like modern western culture doesn’t run entirely on schadenfreude.
That was the crux of the idea of a social contract, which is long dead in the US. Now people line up to revel in the suffering of their fellow citizens with “well you were stupid to do xyz in life, so you deserve your suffering haha.”
I feel like no matter how good of a person I try to be, that voice in my head won’t stop saying I’m a piece of shit.
Reminds me of this comic:
I find that reading some crime stories in the news about some genuine pieces of shit shuts that voice down pretty effectively. Gives some perspective and reminds you that there are far far worse people in the world and that you are merely a flawed human as opposed to a malevolent, hateful psychopath that relishes in the pain and misery they cause others