The mission of Issues in Perspective is to provide thoughtful, historical and biblically-centered perspectives on current ethical and cultural issues.

Joshua Chatraw of the Keller Center has made a series of observations about the relationship between entertainment and the growing culture of despair quite visible now within American civilization. He gives focus to three stages:

• When Alexis de Tocqueville visited America in the 19th century, he observed that despite our prosperity, there was a “strange melancholy in the midst of abundance.”
• “Fast forward to the 1990s. In the movie Fight Club, Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt) captured his generation’s growing sense of discontent: ‘We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War is a spiritual war. Our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars, but we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.’”
• Skip ahead to today. Most Americans have luxuries that the “prosperous in the 1800s couldn’t imagine and the movie gods of the 1990s only dreamed of: supercomputers in our pockets, AI to do our bidding, and entertainment always at the tip of our fingers. And yet amid this abundance, Tocqueville’s “strange melancholy’ persists.”

One of the consequences of the “strange melancholy” is the growing “deaths of despair,” which have reached alarmingly high levels. Loneliness has been declared a public health epidemic. Student mental health has never been worse. Psychologist Richard Beck sums it up: “The data is pretty clear. While America is the most affluent nation in the history of the world, our rates of anxiety, depression, suicide, and addiction are all skyrocketing. We’re not doing well. We are a deeply unwell society.”

For a moment, let us focus on two entertainment media gods as an illustration of what can foster this culture of despair—the late Michael Jackson and the tragic Kanye West.

First, Michael Jackson. Journalist Maureen Orth makes this astute observation about Jackson:  “Michael Jackson’s celebrity is so blinding, his music so compelling, that it cloaks him with an almost impenetrable shield from the truth: He was a stone cold pedophile. Over 12 years from 1993 to 2005, I investigated and chronicled accusations of Jackson’s serial pedophilia, acute drug addiction and bizarre behaviors in five major articles for Vanity Fair.  I interviewed hundreds of people, both defenders and detractors, covered two trials, and combed through myriad legal documents in an effort to make the public aware of how Michael Jackson really conducted his life behind closed doors, behind the funhouse facade of Neverland.”

This observation is especially poignant because of a recent biographical movie about Jackson—“Michael.”  Orth captures the hypocrisy of this movie: “I found credible evidence that he committed crimes against children—crimes I believe he got away with. He was never criminally convicted; he and his estate have paid $43.5 million in settlements to the families of children who accused him of abuse. And now, in a movie that is supposedly an examination of his life, it isn’t even a footnote. But this is what I know: His tactics to silence were violent and cruel; his ego and sense of entitlement so inflated that he demanded humanitarian awards be presented to him before personal appearances, frequently invoking his devotion to emulating Christ-like purity . . . When he overdosed and died in 2009, Jackson was about a half-billion dollars in debt, but today, thanks to his intimidation tactics of yore and the money he and his estate are raking in they are able to keep shelling out the settlements. Next step for the profiteers of the ‘Michael’ movie is its no doubt inevitable sequel. His tenacious cult of millions of fans worldwide can keep their eyes wide shut and audiences will have another chance to see Michael moonwalking right over his victims . . . Personally, I hate it when people come up to me and say, ‘Did Michael Jackson really do all those things?’ I spent a long time investigating and wrote 50,000 words to be able to say the answer is yes—but even in death, Michael can still control the narrative.”

Second is Kanye West, now legally known as “Ye.”  Last year Kanye West released a song titled “Nigga Heil Hitler.”  He sees himself as a rock star who has prided himself in overstepping boundaries and breaking the rules. Consider these illustrations:

• “Ye” had posted “IM A NAZI” on X, the social network.
• He took out an advertisement during the Super Bowl with a link to a website that sold one item—a t-shirt with a swastika.
• He recorded a song titled “Heil Hitler.”
• That song ended with an excerpt from a 1935 speech by the fascist dictator.
• In another album he dubbed himself “Yeezus” and declared, “I am a God.”

Apparently, West now regrets all this.  In January, he took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal addressed “to those I hurt.”  He blamed a bipolar disorder for impairing his judgment.

Matthew Schmitz in First Things demonstrates how a fascination with Nazi symbols and rhetoric has permeated the modern “rock” phenomenon.  It was a part of the Beatles in the 1960s and with Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. In 1973 KISS incorporated Nazi iconography into its branding. In 1976, David Bowie declared that “rock stars are fascists” and that “Adolf Hitler was one of the first rock stars.”  Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols wore a swastika t-shirt. Currently, the leader of the K-pop act BTS has been photographed in a Nazi cap. [This Korean group has sold over 50 million albums.]  Schmitz quotes music writer Daniel Rachel, who has argued that rock’s fascination with Nazism reflects its need to be “rebellious and boundary-pushing.”

This all raises an urgent question: What is the matter with us? How should we think about the increasing this culture of despair in American civilization and the role of entertainment in this culture? Many maintain it demonstrates a crisis of mental health care, that people are simply not getting the services and care they need. Thus, we need better therapies, “more effective antidepressants and greater access to treatment.”  But Clay Routledge, Psychology Professor at North Dakota State University, argues “that the suicide rate has increased even as more people are seeking treatment for depression and anxiety, and even as treatment for those conditions has become more widely available. An additional explanation seems to be needed.”  Routledge concludes that “as a behavioral scientist who studies basic psychological needs, including the need for meaning, I am convinced that our nation’s suicide crisis is in part a crisis of meaningless . . . an increasing . . . risk of existential despair.”

A life of meaning is also threatened by “the changing social landscape of America. To bemoan the decline of neighborliness, the shrinking of the family and the diminishing role of religion.”  Studies demonstrate that “more people feel a strong sense of belongingness, the more they perceive life as meaningful.  Other studies have shown that lonely people view life as less meaningful than those who feel strongly connected to others.  Something similar is at stake in the decreasing size of the family.  Americans today are waiting longer to marry and have children, and are having fewer children . . . researchers have found that adults with children are more focused on matters of meaning than are adults who do not have children, and that parents experience a greater sense of meaningfulness when they are engaged in activities that involve taking care of children.”

As we think biblically about entertainment and the “culture of despair,” two truths are important:

[1] We live in a fallen, broken world where despair and depression are real and just as serious as heart disease and cancer:  Indeed, disease, sickness and pain are all rooted in a world broken by sin.

[2] This growing tragedy reflects the despair and hopelessness that can accompany living in a broken, fallen world. The entertainment industry does not produce solace and comfort; it exacerbates the despair and feeling of crisis already present. The Gospel affirms and the church must declare the innate value and worth of human life.  The church, therefore, must be a place of refuge and strength for those who have such struggles with despair and even thoughts of suicide. The church of Jesus Christ must be sensitive to this growing need and be ready to provide help, counseling and direction to mental health professionals who can be valuable in times of personal calamity.  As Jesus consistently evidenced “compassion,” so must His church.

See Joshua Chatraw, “Self-Creation Is Exhausting,” in The Keller Center (5 March 2026); Maureen Orth in the Wall Street Journal (2-3 May 2026); The Economist (11 April 2026), p. 49; Matthew Schmitz in First Things (April 2026), pp. 15-16; Trygve Johnson, “Gen Z Is Making Me a Better Preacher,” Today in Christian History (14 September 2019); and Clay Routledge in the New York Times (24 June 2018).