Acting Out Anger in America

WHEN I WAS in high school, I lived in a mid sized town with two fairly large high schools, who hated each other's guts. This was, like, forty years ago. I don't know what it was, but the hatred betweeen the two schools was enormous. Maybe the Viet Nam war rubbed off on us, I don't know. As the annual football game approached, gangs of students from both schools started doing mean things to each other,like fighting, vandalism, and so forth. On the day of the game itself, the situation got so bad that the school board met in emergency session, and decided to enlist the help of the football coaches anfd football players in quelling the violence, calming the situation. Right before kickoff, in front of a packed stadium, both teams lined up on their own forty yard lines, and walked towards each other, met at the fifty, and shook hands. While this was happening, the crowd roared with enthusiasm and anticipation; it was a very exciting moment. It was obviously a good idea that november night. The game itself was very exciting, my school won, but as I remember, after the game, there was no hand shaking between the schools,; we just went our separate ways. I don't remember our team ever shaking hands with any other team before or after a game; it just wasn't done. Now, it is done. I attended my old school's homecoming game the other day, and sure enough, after the game, which was very exciting and which my school won, the two teams shook hands. I am given to believe that this is widespread custom in high school football around America these days; hand shaking after games. So obviously this has evolved since I graduated. (its had plenty of time, lord knows). Recently, however, problems have begun to appear. More and more frequently, in various parts of the country, the after game hand shaking has turned into fights, many of them rather serious. As if being forced to shake hands after a hard fought game before emotions and metabolisms have settled down is not always a good idea. Maybe its better to shake before a game, then part company afterward. In many school districts referees and umpires are being ecouraged to leave the premises immediately after the game, and talk to nobody. Many school districts around America are starting to ban post game hand shaking. This post game hand shakorial violence has been happening not only in football, but other sports as well, including girls volleyball. Is there more anger throughout American society now than in the past? Is there reason to think there is, and does that reason have anything to do with stress and frustration? Could it be that regular mass murders, road rage incidents, gang violence, an avalanche of lawsuits, student athletic violence, fan and parent violence are, somehow, inter related in American culture? Is there a pattern here, of anger, leading to anger being acted out violently? And to think, I didn't even mention the wars overseas.