Your synthesis is interesting, Mr. Gioia, and certainly worth considering. Mine is a bit simpler: my hypothesis is there are essentially two classes of American males: the bullies and the bullied, both driven by their respective fears. The dichotomy begins immediately, dominating and being dominated; certainly in school where the young bullies and the bullied young first square off. As we grow, we learn through competition, both athletic and academic, that some are indeed better than others, not just bigger. At work, we instinctively understand that the boss dominates and employees respond with submission, just as we have learned as children So how surprising is it that our private entertainments are filled with gun toting, masked or faceless "heroes" who exact violent revenge on the more powerful, the more threatening; indeed often trading places, so that the hero replaces the bully for the happy ending. We are always the good, they the bad. And so it goes,. Why else are so many American men so fond of their weapons, the ultimate passport to the fantasies of personal safety and power. Why is our favorite national sport modified gladiatorial combat, hours of beatings and simulated war? Is submit that revenge has become the true American way. We dress it up as morality or justice as we deal it out at home and across the world. It's not just in the movies, but in every violent assault, every instance of rage, every beaten child or spouse, every bombed villiage, every good Indian. What indeed is our present politics, but revenge against perceived enemies, foreign and domestic?