>normalcy of suffering allows everybody to share in each other's pain. That
>is why victim TV and confessional writing have become so pervasive in
>popular culture. As well as allowing people to feel together, emotionalism
>also endows those who have suffered with moral status and a sense of
>identity. Moreover, it is a form of identity that suits the individuated
>temper of our times.
I don't know about Furedi's thesis, maybe he's right. There's a new confessional memoir by Dave Eggers of McSweeney's called *A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius* that's being passed "like a new drug from reader to reader" according to the New York Times and I've talked to people who loved it but anyway, this post made me think of it.