Emotion is no longer a private matter.
According to fashionable notions of 'emotional literacy' and 'emotional intelligence', you have to show your feelings in public if you want to be considered a mature adult. The public confession of pain and grandiose exhibitions of suffering are no longer confined to American chat shows. Throughout Europe too, emotionalism has come to define the political style of the nineties. The art of emotional politics has been perfected by Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. Their speeches are littered with the language of therapy, emphasising how much they 'feel' and 'care' and promising to 'share' and 'reach out' to the people.