What's happened is media discovered (DOH!) that exaggerating a story attracts more readers, viewers, listeners. Society started believing the inflated tale (shock! horror!). Then so did the legal and moral structures. Politicians saw that taking a populist position ("you will be believed even if you are lying") got votes. The avalanche rolled. Now it's going so fast nobody dares even hope to avoid the snow. We all exaggerate more. Media hypes further. And Satan's current weapon of mass destruction succeeds.