Of all the narratives their fears wrote, they responded only to the most lurid, the most vivid, the one that was easiest for their imaginations to picture cannibals.

Whispered reports are even more lurid. Zhou is said to have plotted to murder his first wife, and there are rumors that at the height of last year s scandal involving disgraced former Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai, he attempted to assassinate Xi in the leadership compound at Zhongnanhai.

Like Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, the Islamic State appears to understand the impact that lurid images of violence can have on the public imagination. The irony, of course, is that the Islamic State s exploitation of images of pornographic violence is at odds with the Islamists own condemnations of visual stimulation in other areas of life.

Instead, the public has been outraged by lurid accusations concerning the Indian Premier League (IPL) bribes for bad play, owners betting on games, and players seduced by starlets and call girls. The national captain was revealed to have a conflict of interest, and the son in law of Indian cricket s most powerful official was implicated in an illegal gambling operation run by a sinister network of bookies.