Ch 1 and 2: Violence in America

After reading these two chapters it made sense as to how inequality is the main factor of America's high rates in violence. I feel that this may occur due to American's strong desires of being the best. The competition in America is outrageous and we are exposed to it at such an early age. There is such a large emphasis on getting a good education, making a lot of money, and buying all of these material objects that make us look good to the public eye. Due to the fact that we want to make ourselves look better, we tend to lash out at others finding any way to negatively stereotype them and place them in a lower "status" then ourselves. "Knit-picking" these qualities within individuals leads to racism, hatred and possibly violence. People emphasize others lack of education, lack of money, the color of their skin, or their religion. In an ideal society, these types of things would be embraced and not used to tear someone down. Unfortunately, America has traditionally used racism and other stereotypes as a means for defining people. Those who are different then us and that live different lifestyles are simply "tossed out" of our lives based on their physical being and way of life.