"Emotional incontinence"

In recent weeks we've been inundated with remembrances of the Princess of Wales - from the July concert organized by her sons to a book entitled Lady D that laments how much better the world would be if [Diana] had lived. Few commentators, it seems, have picked up the implications of [Peter Morgan]'s script: that Diana's elevation to secular sainthood symbolizes the increasing sentimentalization of Western culture. Sentimentality is an emotional vice of our times. It is not simply a matter of wallowing in what Edmund Burke referred to as "pleasing illusions." Rather, it is a kind of emotional lying to yourself. In his book Sound Sentiments, philosopher David Pugmire describes a sentimentalist as someone who "subordinate[ s] truth to desired emotional effect." That is to say, a sentimentalist is less concerned with the actual significance of an object or an event than they are with the emotional impact of that object or event on themselves. In short, "sentimental concern is narcissistic." Increasingly, Western society seems to be driven by sentimentalists. For every ribbon there's a cause, for every donation a victim. Too many believe that when anything bad happens to them, there must be someone else to blame. We grab a lawyer to sue those who trespass on our egos. We turn to politicians who'll assure us we've been victimized. We run to a therapist who'll tell us we aren't lazy or stupid or greedy, but victims of a syndrome or a neurochemical malfunction.