"Mortality reminders" is another name for fear.
This is what the government has been using as it's central strategy. How many Americans are totally distracted with fear that they will lose their home, fear that they will become ill without insurance, fear that they will be sacked from the $8 an hour job, etc etc.
The swagger comes from a feeling of belonging to a group where they feel welcome even if they have to believe that the world is just 10 thousand years old.
Guns and violence take away the need to think.
Worldwide isn't far when you can't read a map of the world.