[NatureGirl]

and they'd buy tickets to "smackdown" exhibitions where people really got hurt, and unpopular people got voted into serious pain,

The ancient Romans would have understood.

As to voting unpopular people into serious pain -- I take it you attended high school? Maybe people just aren't "inspired" enough to move past their teenage years.

[185JHP]

One of the best things I learned in high school was that some people who don't like you, and won't ever like you, nevertheless are offended that you won't expend any efforts to get them to like you. BTW have you seen the book "Odd Girl Out - The Hidden Culture Of Aggression In Girls" - guess what it made me think of?