But in both they are part of, and reinforce, the cultural sense that this stuff doesn't happen to real people. If an insurmountable problem arrives, they are resolvable by violence and the heroes will win. Insurmountable problems are just ghost stories. They freak us out, but aren't real.

The US has no living memory of this at home. These things happen to /other/ people on the same screens where they shoot lasers or singlehandedly take on a cartel. So we sit in our cafes where the old men play chess and the children play outside, and we shake our heads that it is all so severe.

There's also a strong cultural streak in the US that assigns causality to anecdotal evidence close to home. As in, shit isn't real until it happens to one in the tribe.

If its an insurmountable problem then it isn't worth thinking about. It's much better to play chess at cafes than worry uselessly. If I'm a Ukrainian web developer on the 23rd of February 2022, I probably am just worried about what to get for dinner.

In general we'd be better with more stories of moderately surmountable problems (but that doesn't make great tv). Also wonder how much how shielded most people are from violence plays into this