I really do agree with a lot of what Peter has to say, especially about our society's repression; probably (I think) the most glaring difference between US society and most others is that instead of being honest about a lot of things, we generally ignore them or make every effort not to speak about them. And then we act surprised when things break out of that repression. I'm sure that saying this will get me in a lot of trouble, but how can we be shocked about the prevalence of sexual assault in a country that scandalizes sex to the point that one uncovered breast gives a film a more restrictive rating than some other film which features endless killing and bloodshed? I think the problem is not just the prevalence of violence in our culture, but the fact that we just pretend that violent acts are all random and don't have any connection with ourselves. The amount of repression is just blinding.
Well, apart from that, the real reason why I wanted to write this letter was to take issue with one statement in Peter's letter. There are indeed many things listed there that are dangers in American culture, but to say that single-parent families are responsible for the violence in our society is a handy way of shifting the blame from the real factors on to a scapegoat. Having two parents does not help stop the violence; in fact, in this day of frequent divorces, it often fans the violent embers. I know too many people who grew up in homes where the parents were bickering and fighting so much that the child couldn't help but develop a hard, violent attitude. I also know a handful of people who grew up in single-parent families with enormous family extensions (made up of the single parent's friends and relatives) that were far more nurturing than most two-parent families. This is not to say that all single parents are wonderful people, but neither are all two-parent groups.