# Fear, Frustration, and Violence: Societal Implications for America - Synthesis B By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2025-09-17 In this moment, fear and frustration within American society are being funneled into violence or indifference. The latter of which is likely to result in even more violence, as so many sit on the sidelines and watch the non-elites fall further and further behind. This indifference is the true enemy. When people choose to do nothing, all progress stops, and those left with power use it to get everything they want. The American government was established with a series of checks and balances as a means to mitigate the risk of those in power seeking to exert complete control. Unfortunately, we've encountered ways of being and thinking that have ironically disunited the union. When postmodernity critiqued modernity's authority but provided no easy-to-discern alternatives, the world was left with a ball of uncertainty, resulting in indifference. If authority is no longer valid, all that matters is context, and every opinion is a valid opinion, then why bother taking action or believing in anything? While all these points highlight the postmodern condition, they are merely the Cliff Notes of the movement. Few fully understand its depth. Even fewer know how to get out of the pit of despair it creates. Most picked up a few overly simplified concepts and ran with them to provide some grounding to their changing world. The result? Mass indifference has perpetuated the problem until those in power extracted as much as they could, and now fear and frustration extend to all corners of the country. The violence that emerges is likely the most predictable thing in human history. You push people to the edge, and some are bound to fight back. While it is a relatively peaceful time now, we are a violent species. When we band together, we are capable of untold suffering and violence towards our fellow humans and everything else in the world. But, does it have to end in violence? Only if those who are indifferent continue to stay indifferent. We need to provide an antidote for those who are sick with indifference. We once believed in the divine, then in enlightenment and the self, but now we believe in nothing. The indifferent need to believe in something coherent in their current way of being. This something could be each other and the challenge of real growth and development. The alternative is a violent future that no one has seen in centuries. #### Related Items [[Violence]] [[Fear]] [[Frustration]] [[Post-modern]] [[Modernity]] [[Society]] [[American]]