Concern for France and Europe

[Prudence]

There seems to be something about large groups that emboldens people to act in spectacularly uncivilized ways. Engaging in some wild speculation -- what is it about modern society that people just can't wait to blow things up? Set things on fire? Overturn cars? Loot businesses? Whether it's championship sporting events or religious extremism, it all looks to me like barbarians gleefully bent on destruction for destruction's sake. There's some label under which they assemble, perhaps a rallying cry, but the essence of the acts are people throwing off the mantle of civilization.

So why is that? Is it like toddlers and bed time? If you don't put them to the daily hard labor of the pre-industrial age they don't get all tuckered out at bed time? I speculate that somehow we, as a world, have raised a generation or two who don't feel they have a share in society and therefore don't feel guilt or regret at acts destructive to society.