So that is why good is so hard to conjure up (imagine).

Probably. And remember... when Chesterton wrote, that was not exactly this day and age. This was before the entire media industry as a whole pretty much went over to embracing and glorifying all imaginable (and unimaginable) evil!

As a writer, I have long pondered the problems in the arts (and thus in the entertainment industry), and it had occurred to me as well that today, even the so-called "good guys" are usually downright evil. Eg, the action movie hero who, as the "good guy," entertains the audience by brutally murdering all of his foes, usually for revenge. And this is the only kind of "good guy" people ever get in modern media. Someone who themselves are, in actuality, evil, or at least doing evil.

This is something parents especially need to consider, because there is nothing people love more than their entertainment, and what people (including their children) are getting, are pictures of evil and sin, being called good. (Eg, this is the "good guy". Watch him kill people!) Combine the utter lack of any definite good, with the poisonous philosophy that there's no such thing (or that we can't know it, or that it's all just a matter of opinion), and that virtue is somehow ridiculous or exaggerated or stupid or crazy), and that we have no free will, but we're all just helplessly and hopelessly evil, so we all might as well just give in and say, "ah well... we're all like this"... and so many other poisonous elements found in today's media, and you've got a serious recipe for thorough, all-around corruption.

It is really shocking when you stop and think that today, NO ONE (virtually) is presenting a definitely good character or characters. Or plot, and so forth. And so, the children who grow up gorging themselves on the fruits of that entertainment industry have seen about 200% evil of various degrees, and the only picture of "good" they're being given, is that there's no such thing, and that all "good guys" are really bad guys, too. Oh, and that all bad guys are ALWAYS better, stronger, smarter, etc, than the good guys are. (Naturally!)

It really is a disaster. And I expect most of us have a hard time picturing good or finding any to admire outside of the lives of the saints. Outside of the lives of the saints, it isn't being presented (virtually) anywhere. And we can't love what we don't know.

Well, another tragedy is that people seem to have forgotten that there is even life outside of that miserable wasteland of the media. Even our talents, or simple, creative works give us a more balanced, wholesome idea of life. When kids put down the movies and video games and pick up the spatula or the hammer or the crochet hook or the sewing needle... it's like...  "Hey... you mean life's not just about school and work and eating and sleeping and watching people blow each other up on television?!" Yeah, there are countless things we could be doing, that are productive, useful, educational, you name it... positive, wholesome things we can learn to do and even have fun doing them.

I think the entertainment industry has a lot of effects people don't even realize, and one of them, I think, is that besides the utter loss of morality or any kind of moral or truth compass, we have also lost virtually all sense of LIVING. Not just getting up in the morning and working ourselves to death, and then coming home and turning our brains off in front of the TV. We need to wake up again and realize that contrary to what hollywood would have us think, there is more to life than immorality and ugliness. There are countless good things we can learn and do, and even build up virtues doing them. Because most things do, indeed take virtues, even if only those like patience, temperance (too much of a good thing can be bad), etc... And of course, if we do anything good at all for the love of God, it can have eternal merit. Which means rather than watching television, we could be not only using or discovering our God-given talents and skills, but even working on our salvation while doing them!

It won't be enough for people to merely get the immoral entertainment out of their lives. They must have something to fill that void with, and the best cure, in addition to the obvious (God's real religion), is for us to learn how to live again... to explore and grow our talents and skills in positive, moral, healthy ways, and so to enrich our lives. And often times those things we are good at, we also enjoy doing. So there is entertainment and recreation after hollywood. And of course, we need to get back the idea of the family and family life, and true friendships, which are also important parts of a wholesome, healthy life.

If people would realize how bad the entertainment industry has become, and opt to return to a simpler, moral life, they would discover to their pleasant surprise that it's not all pain and somberness. It has a sweetness and satisfaction all it's own, and I'm sure it's the last thing the infernal adversary wants anyone to rediscover! But nature abhors a vacuum, and if we want to throw out what is bad, we need to rediscover and embrace what is good again.