Well, the US is a nation of some 330 million individuals. It's the 3rd most populous nation after China and India. The US is also the 4th largest country by lan

Well, the US is a nation of some 330 million individuals. It's the 3rd most populous nation after China and India. The US is also the 4th largest country by land mass. It's actually tied with China in that regard. Why is that important? Because at those scales, a population isn't remotely homogeneous. On the contrary. The US is a massively complex nation with many complex histories, cultures, economies, politics and belief systems. Languages spoken in the US are a massive topic in their own regard. American linguistics is a huge field. The thing is that all that complexity gets hidden by a few dominant narratives. Noam Chomsky has been instrumental in pointing that out through his career. [1] Even so, the role of the media is just the top of the iceberg. Far more interesting is digging into deeply ingrained belief systems and the formation of identities throughout the history of the US from when settlers first arrived until the present day. One can never really fully escape one's own past, and this rings very true for collective histories. I wouldn't characterize the US population as collectively having become "lazier" or "more entitled". I think that's short selling a national identity. However, one narrative is that the US fully became a global empire after World War II. The effects of those 5 years, and the preceding decades, from 1918 onwards, have profoundly transformed not only the US but also the world as a whole. Global economic prosperity up to the 1970s (in France, they are called the "Thirty Glorious Years") and it's subsequent decline over the past 50 years are ripples of a turbulent first half of the 20th century. The fact of the matter is that the US - just like the rest of the world - is facing a new, challenging future with many new, potential and real, fault lines that might give rise to conflict and tension. Many of which still being rooted in historical differences. It's easy to see how that breeds uncertainty and a sense of "everything is falling apart". Old certainties, dynamics and beliefs that have dominated the thinking of billions for the past 80 to 100 years are now being challenged. The question is how the US, this complex nation such as it is, is going to rise towards the occasion. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky#News_media_and_propaganda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky#News_media_and_pr...