I think that industry of disgust, shock and awe has always been there; its just now more acessible than ever.

Manson was the 90s version, Liveleak and others are the modern smut / shock / outrage and it spreads to all social mediums with a much greater pace today.

We also get to jump on our moral high horse and publicly denounce the depicted acts even though deep down human curiosity is morbidly fascinated by the theatre of it.