I haven’t seen MTV in years, with no regrets, but I recall a show on the network that impacted me like a train wreck. It was awful, gruesome, and terrible—but I couldn’t look away. “Celebrity Deathmatch” featured clay-animated celebrities in a wrestling ring where they pummeled, grinded, or dismembered each other into a bloody pulp of scarlet Play-Doh. It wasn’t exactly wholesome family entertainment.

We can pick apart the moral depravity of the show (which is all too easy), or we can talk about why it was so popular with the young (which is probably related to its moral depravity). Let’s simply draw this conclusion—the younger generation isn’t enamored with celebrities. They aren’t cultural gods to be worshiped and respected. They’re more like rodeo clowns trying not to be…