Self-reliant? Americans now depend on the hive for almost everything. The faucet leaks? Call the plumber. The car makes funny noises? Go to a mechanic. Someone is sneaking around your house at night? Call a cop. A porch light stops working? Call the electrician. You saw a mouse? Call a psychiatrist. Self-defense? Dear God, no. Too macho.
That certainly is the picture the communists in Big Media and Big Education are trying to paint. And it's not entirely false.
But Fred doesn't paint the whole picture.
Auto parts stores are a booming business. Gun stores and ammunition sales are a booming business in more ways than one. The phenomenon of the Lowes right across the street from the Home Depot extends from large cities to the country. The people buying stuff are ordinary Joes, not just contractors and professionals. The "Americans are all wimpy metro-boys" meme doesn't jive with observable data.
Big Media tells us we're all wimps; Big Education tries to make it so. Real world observation tells us that Big Education isn't having nearly the success that Big Media claims.