APOCALYPSE NOW THEN

The damage done by disavowal

In this post I will examine one case of how a nation can be spellbound by a sentimental view of fundamental evil.

I will argue that this has lead to the congratulation of moral and practical failure as a matter of course - in every area of private and public life.

I will first make the case using one notorious example from Britain to show how mass media can and does valorise wickedness, misleading populations in the celebration of depravity. Downstream of celebrity worship is a similar confection enabled by mass media: a respect and even reward for moral and institutional failures.

This object lesson from early celebrity culture illustrates the far wider attachment of positive feelings to negative practices and behaviours.