“Seems to be a lot of the younger types detonating into wholesale violence...”
Even sadder is watching so many of them degenerate into the habits normally associated with the hopelessness of the ghetto; in my area drug/alcohol use is way up (and the Jersey Shore to the south of me is supposed to be “ground zero” for a heroin epidemic), and unemployment is high. Unskilled young Americans can’t find work in retail or restaurants because they don’t speak Spanish, those skilled in trades can’t find work because most of that work (that remains) has gone to illegals, and those with college can’t find work because many companies/jobs are leaving the oppressive tax atmosphere here. The birthrate (for Americans) is near 0 at this point; the future is bleak indeed for young people in the northeast...
I think that “wholesale violence” is “sadder” than despair. Hopelessness may be temporary, while the effects of violence last forever.