The fantasy violence on TV is a reminder that the 
violence of the real world is much motivated by 
people questing for lost identity. Rollo May and 
others have pointed out that violence in the real 
world is the mark of those questing for identity. 
On the frontier everybody is a nobody, and 
therefore the frontier manifests the patterns of 
toughness and vigorous action on the part of 
those trying to find out who they are.

Marshall McLuhan, “A Last Look at the Tube”,  
Marshall McLuhan: The Man and His Message , 
(Golden, 1989), pp. 197-198.