So on the one hand there's the view that things will always carry on as they have done - which will always be popular for a generation that has had a minimum of real social, economic and military dislocation.

On the other there's a kind of unconscious counterpart in Stories of Apocalypse.

In the middle there are real problems which fall into a psychological blindspot because dealing with them realistically would mean stepping out the narrative.

And since there are pay-offs for both extremes - avoidance of anxiety with denial, and satisfaction of revenge and punishment fantasies for apocalypse - the realistic option of dealing maturely with real problems is never quite as popular as it could be.