Why is it that every movie, play, book, song, etc, ad nauseam that achieves a modicum of success becomes some sort of sign pointing “to something darker and more troubling in our society”? Why can’t it just be taken as a sign that there is a segment of society which has enough disposable income to pay to engage in some form of totally forgettable inconsequence and there are people willing to mass produce the inconsequential product to indulge them?

Because western culture has myths about the end times, when the world will be destroyed by fire, gods, poodles, what have you. In all of these myths, the society in the end times is corrupt, hedonistic, and self-indulgent. So when we see hedonistic and self-indulgent behaviour become mainstream, there’s a part of us that is thinking ‘Well, this must be the beginning of the end.’

I blame the Romans, for driving themselves lead-crazy before their empire collapsed. Christian teachings deliver a similar message, although I don’t know a historical event from which they might have learned the lesson. Cultural memory of ancient disasters and religion have combined to really ruin hedonism’s reputation.

— from a Plastic discussion on the movie Jackass