3. The Selfishness of our Material Age
While the emphasis on material property over spiritual contentment began with the Enlightenment in the 18th century, peoples possessiveness over their personal property has become more exaggerated since the 1980s. Before the Big Bang and the acceptance of free market economics as the only workable means of generating wealth and prosperity, material possessions were hard-earned, rare and something in which you invested; you may have been jealous of your neighbours, but you channelled that jealousy into working hard to have what they have. Now, in our consumerist society, we buy from a very wide range of relatively cheap goods to bolster our own self-esteem at the expense of others. To distract from our own insecurities and inadequacies, we make targets of others, using everything from smartphones to second homes as a means of getting one over by belittling people. This doesnt always manifest itself in actual abuse; it can simply be an offhand snobbish comment about a brand of trainers or the drink someone is having. But even in small doses such as these, this culture of product-driven one-upmanship is endemic in our society. It becomes more exaggerated during a recession, where people instinctively turn inwards and protect what is ours before giving to them.
4. The Rise of Reality TV
In his sadly little-seen horror film My Little Eye, Welsh director Marc Evans entertained the idea that reality television is the new pornography. But if anything, it has become our societys equivalent of the circus, in which we pay money to watch generic characters doing stupid and often painful things to themselves and those around them, while they are shepherded around by their electronic ringmasters. Watching Big Brother or X-Factor or any of their derivatives is an exercise in escapist schadenfreude on a national scale, in which people switch off and escape by being glad that their lives are not as bad as those being humiliated in front of an audience of millions. Alan Bennett once dryly remarked with that when the nation resorts to the toilet for its humour, the writing is on the wall. Its not the toilet thats the problem its our tendency to treat people like s**t.