Crazy Bulgarians or What is the world coming to?

So I read this article in the SMH (via the Telegraph) yesterday:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/russian-road-roulette-is-all-the-rage-in-sofia-20091026-hgva.html

If you're incredibly lazy, the synopsis is that a gang of 20-somethings in Sofia (the capital of Bulgaria) meet up late at night, and play russian roulette in the streets by running their 4 wheel drives through red lights at up to 200kmh, and that 5 people have died in the last couple of months, and several people have been injured.

And I thought to myself, what the hell is going on, and what is wrong with these people? Is this the ultimate expression of a society that's bored? They no longer have the yoke of oppression, there hasn't been a war or a revolution for a while in Bulgaria, so is it they don't have enough danger in their lives, so they try and kill themselves and other people?

This seems to me the extreme extension of the Happy Slapping phenomenon that happened in the UK a while back, or the Japanese habit of doing a Hopoate on friends and perfect strangers...and I just don't get it.

I haven't been in a proper fight (I don't think basketball or rugby count) since I was 11 years old, and I think just navigating life, kids, mortgages, marriage and friends has more than enough excitement for me thank you very much. I do like to drive fast, and have in the past been known to drive really quickly, but I just don't get this need to push life right to the edge like this...maybe I'm missing something.

Sofia is supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, as well as being one of the oldest. And yet, here they are doing this to each other.

Is there a moral to this story? If there is one, it is this: if you're driving in Sofia late at night, stop at all traffic lights, even green ones, and look both ways, or better yet, stay out until dawn.

meh

m