Do you agree with them?
No.
Sorry to see this Q, but it seems like you have seen your fair share of violence. I know you have been unlucky a few times, but I dont know if this is a factor of living life on the edge or where you live, but I really dont think the world is as nasty & violent as it would appear it has been to you.
On the contrary, I think it is much more violent and nasty than I have seen. I may have grown up in the most violent fully-developed, modern nation on the planet, but it was still a fully-developed, modern nation, and I may have lived in working class surroundings all my life, but I wasn't born into the underclass either, and I do have options even those in my own country do not.
Even within the US, there are many, many people who have experienced more nastiness and violence in their surroundings than I have, and outside the US, Canada, Western Europe, Japan and Korea-- fuck, man-- it's pretty fuckin bad out there. Ask our man Iraqi Atheist or some of the Somali sisters we got here. Some of the barrios I've been in in Mexico make the ghettos here look like fuckin Beverly Hills and the drug-related violence in many Mexican cities would have them begging for Philadelphia or Baltimore-like conditions.
Naw, man-- I may have experienced more of that shit, both due to environment and personality defects/bad decisions, than many people in the developed world, but compared to the rest of the world and even my own country's underclass, I got it fuckin good, and I'm fuckin grateful for that. I'm grateful I had a mom who was smart, educated, gave a shit, and at least made enough money to support me comfortably. I'm grateful for the grandparents I had and I'm grateful I grew up in the heart of the empire. Yeah, I got some bad breaks here and there, but overall, relative to the rest of the world, I had it okay.
True there are many, many dicks around, but I think the vast majority are decent, non violent, people out there.
That doesn't mean the world is not a generally nasty, violent place. Even a small minority can wreak havoc, even more so when the foundations and structures of your society, organization, government, or community are weak.
This has nothing to do with violence, but I've got a union local that I service that's basically a good local with good leadership, but there are two total assholes in that local. 2 outta 100-- 2%. And they disrupt the functioning of that local to an unbelievable degree and make life miserable for everyone.
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