Full of despair! The American media summarized the current situation in the United States using these keywords: trauma, shooting, and the United States

Recently, multiple American media outlets have conducted profound reflections and criticisms on social issues such as political polarization, extreme public sentiment, and ongoing shooting incidents in the United States, as well as the current diplomatic trend of the United States increasing military aid to Ukraine.

The famous American journal Atlantic Monthly summarized keywords such as "irritability," "conspiracy," "polarization," and "trauma" to define the current United States.

Why are Americans becoming increasingly fearful and angry?

The Atlantic Monthly recently published an article focusing on analyzing why Americans have become so harsh and sad.

The article states that "the words that define our era are full of threats, such as conspiracy, polarization, mass shootings, trauma, and safe space.".

Screenshots of articles from Atlantic Monthly

The article bluntly states that in the current United States, the murder rate has been soaring, gun sales are also soaring, and social trust is plummeting.

According to the Gun Violence Archive in the United States, as of August 20th local time, the number of deaths caused by gun violence in the United States has exceeded 27400 so far this year.

△ Screenshots of data from the Gun Violence Archive in the United States

Frequent shooting incidents, continuously rising death toll, inadequate gun control by the US government, and polarization of party struggles have led to a long-standing problem of gun violence... Many Americans are deeply disappointed with their country.

A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in the United States shows that up to 60% of Americans view gun violence as a major issue facing the country. Most people also anticipate that the situation will further deteriorate in the next five years.

However, according to a recent report by the American news website "Akxios", a latest poll by the Pew Research Center shows that nearly two-thirds of American adults either already own firearms or may purchase them in the future. Three quarters of the respondents stated that "self-protection" is the reason they already own or wish to own a gun. This has also to some extent contributed to the vicious cycle of frequent gun violence in the United States.

Screenshot of the report from the American news website "Akxios"

In an interview with the media, James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University, admitted that since the COVID-19 epidemic, the sales of guns in the United States have increased significantly. The epidemic has caused economic and emotional setbacks for people, and at the same time, the country is becoming increasingly divided, making it easy for people to become angry and shift their anger onto innocent strangers.

△ Screenshot of USA Today website report

What also disappoints Americans is the federal government's attitude towards marijuana.

According to a recent report by The Washington Post, the legal marijuana industry in the United States has become a behemoth, with revenue of $30 billion last year. However, marijuana is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.

The Washington Post reported that in 2022, the legitimate cannabis industry in the United States generated approximately $30 billion in revenue. During the same period, Americans spent $7 billion on ice cream, $20 billion on chocolate, and $28 billion on craft beer.

The report states that the US federal government's attitude towards marijuana is the least responsible. In a decade, the United States has gone from completely banning recreational use of marijuana to allowing it to be widely used in most states without national safety standards. The result should not be surprising: new varieties of marijuana are constantly emerging, and more and more Americans are addicted to marijuana.

Marijuana is legally sold in the United States, which is hard not to associate with the rampant crime and theft in Oakland, California, known as the "fentanyl paradise"; On the streets of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, drugs continue to flood, and Kensington Street and others are notorious for excessive public drug consumption.

On August 4th, Fox News reported that a community worker in Oakland, California, claimed that the city's outdoor drug market, theft and other activities were rampant, and there were insufficient regulatory measures for homeless people, making it a "fentanyl paradise".

Moreover, the latest report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States shows that nearly 50000 people died from suicide in 2022, the highest number on record.

△ Screenshots of the New York Times website report

The analysis of an article in Atlantic Monthly suggests that today's Americans are "caught up in some emotional, relational, and spiritual crisis, which exacerbates political dysfunction and the general crisis of democracy in the United States.".

Indeed, political polarization and democratic crisis are social realities that currently disappoint Americans.

Former US President Trump has faced his fourth criminal charge since stepping down. CNN reported, citing a senior US official, that Trump is expected to surrender to Fulton County Prison in Georgia before August 24th or 25th. In the eyes of many Americans, this is a microcosm of the further division between politics and society.

Screenshots of CNN coverage in the United States

According to a report by Atlantic Monthly, universities, sports, popular culture, and healthcare in the United States are now embroiled in a series of political "wars". A "red blue war" between the Republican and Democratic parties is ongoing, and those who join the party struggle "will eventually become a group of lonely thugs", trapped in a world marked by fear and anger.

△ Creative image

The United States is constantly pushing up war bets

Not only are the United States facing many problems domestically, but its diplomatic dynamics continue to provoke criticism and concerns.

According to multiple media reports on August 18th, the United States has approved the supply of American made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine through Denmark and the Netherlands, and has promised to accelerate all necessary procedures for approving the transfer of F-16 fighter jets. Previously, the Washington Post reported, citing sources, that the US intelligence community was not optimistic about Ukraine's situation on the battlefield. The counterattack by the Ukrainian army has sparked a debate between the two parties in the United States regarding military aid to Ukraine.

Screenshots of a report by The Washington Post

An Associated Press poll shows that 60% of the Americans interviewed just after the conflict between Russia-Ukraine conflict believed that weapons should be delivered to Ukraine. One year after the conflict, the proportion of Americans interviewed who supported military aid to Ukraine dropped to less than 50%, and 29% of the respondents clearly opposed military aid to Ukraine.

Screenshot of the Associated Press report

The negative consequences of continued US military aid to Ukraine are evident.

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov stated in the August 19th issue of International Affairs that Western supporters are constantly pushing Ukraine to increase its bets, and there is no prospect of negotiations between Russia and the West on the Ukraine issue. The multilateral consultations on the Ukraine issue in Jeddah and Copenhagen, held without inviting Russia, indicate that the West has no intention of reaching any agreement with Moscow.

Screenshots of reports from International Affairs magazine

Source: Global Information Radio's "Global Deep Observation"

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Editor | Yang Nan

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