No.1 magazine is Scotland’s conflation of Hello and Heat magazine. It combines vile celebrity tittle-tattle with pseudopsychological articles on mental illness. Here is their latest cover:
Look at it. It doesn’t say “Bipolar The new celebrity disorder”. It says “Bipolar The new celebrity disorder!” That exclamation mark makes all the difference. The exclamation mark implies that manic depression is a good thing to have, like it’s a holiday destination or a new type of washing powder.
It is easy to fall into the trap of paying attention only to the ways in which society is in decline. You end up reading the Daily Mail and being too afraid to walk the streets. Strangely, despite recently consuming the classic post-civilziation works Survivors and Earth Abides, I remain placid and optimistic.
One thing I always noticed when working in Gorbals Library was that the people who tended to read true life murder books tended to be the ones who reeked of port. It was as though they drank because their vision of the world was cut-throat. It does make me cautious about what books I pick up.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Leave a Reply