Quote:
Originally Posted by giallo
This seems to be a trend everywhere in North America right now. There's definitely a bit of a societal breakdown happening at the moment. I think it was coming sooner or later, but COVID helped speed things up.
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The societal breakdown seems to be among lower-class white men, from my anecdotal (yes, I know) experience. Homeless person standing at a stoplight most of the time? White guy.
Some spitballing as to why:
Men are just more Darwinian to their less useful compatriots. Maybe it's an evolutionary trait (and not a good one per se), but the attitude of men towards other less motivated men has always been one of scorn. I suspect it was a more military-like attitude to motivate other men (A boot in the ass always works!) under harsher conditions. It just now serves to isolate them, I suppose.
The erosion of community supports. Not in a governmental sense, but the idea that people are part of a community - church, fraternal organizations, whatever. That seems stronger among the immigrant community (perhaps why fewer of them slip through cracks) but has seemingly faded among the long-term locals. So, yeah, when one loses their sense of place in something bigger, one kind of ends up in bad places.
Then there's the other things we've discussed: Housing/rent prices inflating, making bottom-feeder rentals a poor business. The lack of mental health facilities. Addiction issues.
Mix it all together and it's not a problem that easy to solve.