The US hardly has a monopoly on celebrity lovers. Are there really so few in your country? Many of the British still follow their royalty quite closely, though this attention is no more universal than Americans' fixation with the Kardashians. We do also have plenty of celebrities who walk through daily life without much attention. It's those who love the limelight that get it, not surprisingly.
I am sorry but to answer this entire post I will probably have to toy with your entire worldview. I just don't see how I can do it without that.
First of all I said that in this part of the world there are celebrities as well. However we never go into talk how much money they have and they can move pretty freely around the place free of hysteria. In other words I am getting impression that never anyone told you that you think about celebrities in a typical Capitalistic way. While it is possible to do celebrities on "Socialist" way. As I said a number times: I live in Europe too far to the east that my economy can be considered to be Capitalistic. Even if we take west European definition of Capitalism there is still a stretch that needs to be covered. Which is because the government is simply quite present in economy (for better or for worse). In other words my celebrities are generally government employees or at least government contractors that are somewhere in this whole mix. Your country is known for not having socialized medicine and therefore I am under impression that it doesn't have socialized entertainment as well. Free rock concerts where you can come freely (but you will have buy yourself a drink if you want one). Free move projections in state run movie theaters, after all bigger moves are all co-produced by the government. Until a few years most of the sports clubs were still government property (what was a relic from Communism), but lately they made some kind privatization. However it is evident that the government is still quite involved in many decisions.
So to put it in short this is almost surely completely different understanding of celebrity culture than the one you know. Especially since American stars rarely come this far east to perform. Especially since clear majority doesn't consume that on daily basis. After all most locals go to something local that is either much cheaper or completely free. Since we for the most part don't think that entertainment should cost out of pocket money.
In a related observation, I suspect the vast majority of Americans do not fall within any of the subcultures you listed, with two possible exceptions. First is how broadly you define "gun nuts". Americans are more likely to own guns than citizens of other nations, but most are responsible about them and use them appropriately for hunting and sport. It is the vocal and violent minority who get the attention, not the thousands of people who safely hunt each fall. Gun violence is a significant problem the US must face, because our relatively lax laws allow that irresponsible and dangerous small minority to cause significant harm. The second is how you would define "junkies". We certainly have our share of substance abusers, and recovered abusers, but I'm not sure it is worse here than in other societies, except perhaps those with stiff (e.g. death) penalties for any drug possession.
So, I really don't think the US has more people wrapped up in these subcultures than anywhere else, though some of ours may be different. It all boils down to human nature, which transcends political and cultural boundaries. American culture may encourage certain vices, and virtues, relative to other cultures, but the desire to take the easy way out, to avoid questioning fundamental values and assumptions, and to enjoy interaction and approval from others is universal. Leaders can appeal to these qualities to bring out the best in us, or the worst.
Ok, but it is your country that is kinda being prideful about the fact that there are more guns in the country than people. Therefore if you really don't like it like that you would have elected the team that would have sorted this out for good. I am not even trying to be judgy, it is simply impression that you like it like that. In these parts it is normal that you 8 year old walks itself to school everyday and in US that sounds as a really bad idea in quite a few places.
I have often said that Americans need to learn the hard way. This is a good example. The U.S. saw the destruction and chaos engulfing much of the world for several years, and before that, saw evidence of the abuses of the Nazi regime in Europe. Sure, we sent some resources to the UK to support their war effort, but couldn't be bothered really to get involved until we experienced a devastating attack on our own soil. This is what I mean when I say we will have progress in the end, it's just a question of how long it will take and how many will suffer on the way.
True, but at this point I have some serious doubts that you will wake up in time to save your sphere of influence (and thus your economy).
In the case that you didn't reelect Trump maybe I would decide to believe you, but just about everything indicates wasted years and efforts in so many areas. Since the focus will be on the internal struggle instead of the fact that your sphere of global influence is melting (and with it your economy as well). I live in what are basically outskirts of the developed world and thus I feel more and more the current that is pulling the whole thing eastward. The tech gadgets are almost completely from Asia, oil is from ex USSR country and is sold by government company, over half of our neighbors have quite pro Russian governments (some are even debating internally about referendum on NATO exist). China builds or buys plenty of infrastructure all around the place. Media generally have open eastward focus these days. They are even ignoring EU, even if they are physically in EU. Therefore someone should seriously invastigate what happened to most of the media. I watch so much international media exactly since I don't trust my own media at all anymore when it comes to big picture. Especially since some of them aren't even hidding that they are Russia friendly (and thus they often just skip the stories they don't like).
Plus as I said in the other thread my Russian friendly hardliner president just won a landslide in presidential elections (he won all of the regions). What means that pro western camp is in a state of political shock. Especially if this happens again in the spring with regional and local elections that may as well be the end of post Communist era. Since in that case the clock will go back, I mean it isn't that we moved too far from that era as you can see. The whole point of my thread about global events is how unlikely is that things will just quiet down. Therefore if things continue like this it will be reasonable that I stop posting here, since this is getting more and more risky as the time goes by. The whole central Europe is slowly moving eastward as the time is passing and there just aren't any serious plans how to stop it.
Therefore I claim: that the only thing that can save your country is WW2 style economy and super production of just about everything. Objectively speaking that is the only engine that would have enough power to get out of the current hole. Things simply need to work at 270% of normal.
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