Seattle Times staff columnist Danny Westneat wrote an article last year about a man that died from anal sex with a horse. This story was so outlandish that it became the all time most read article in the history of the Seattle Times. According to Danny Westneat 4 of the top 20 articles were also on this same horse sex incident, "So much so, a case can be made that the articles on horse sex are the most widely read material this paper has published in its 109-year history. " Anywhere you look on the internet outrageous and sickening stories always make up the most read, emailed and downloaded articles.
Society has, as a whole, taken a very marked interest in what's different, weird, sickening, etc... There are whole blogs, forums and more dedicated to this. Millions of people are logging on and reading this somewhat questionable content. Web publishers and advertisers are catching on and using pay per click and other avenues of advertising to target keywords for popular stories like horse sex and such. According to Danny, "It's not just the horse sex. The rest of the top 20 people's-choice list is eye-opening, as well." It is well known that advertisers want marked results and news stories and websites are now being tracked for what is popular and what isn't. Websites and blogs have become virtually marketable real estate just like actual land. With one exception, instead of location, location, location its content, content, content.
Its out with the norm and in with the outlandish. This is why O.J. Simpsons famous chase had much more publicity and staying power than any presidents state of the union address. This horse sex and similar has probably by now been featured on Jerry Springer and maybe it will be on Oprah if she needs a ratings boost someday.
This obsession is not new. One only has to look in the recent past - Ed Gein whom the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was loosly based on. Charles Cullen, the male nurse whom killed 35 - 40 hospital patients in his care with deadly, unprescribed medicines. Or the sick Henry Lee Lucas, having killed more than 300 men, women and children. All of these sensational and horrible stories of evil and outrage have commanded more attention than all the wars in history. This is why shows like MTV's Jackass become huge hits and Johnie Knoxville a star big enough to play one of the Duke brothers and rumored to have been intimate with Jessica Simpson.
Society is obsessed or addicted to anything out of the norm. The more outrageous the better the ratings. Biblically speaking it sounds like we are following in the footsteps of Sodom and Gomorrah. Do you remember this story? Each of these cities had become so enthralled with wickedness that God destroyed them.
"Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah --from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities --and also the vegetation in the land." Genesis 19:24, 25 NIV
You could dismiss this as a biblical fairytale until recently as archeologists have now found the ruined cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And yes they were covered with ash and sulfur balls. As more and more of the bible is proven true, maybe we need to pay more attention to the recent signs that the end times mentioned in Revelations could happen in our lifetimes. We could become the next Sodom and Gomorrah if we keep lusting for the sick, perverse, deranged, etc...