In political candidates with strange hairdos who attract a huge majority of the population, in fictional pop heroes like Dr. Gregory House, in actual pop heroes like Kanye West and numerous other places besides...
It's about House MD, the doctor and Sherlock, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Their unpleasantness is a key part of their respective shows, to the point of being a major plot driver in some cases.
The original Sherlock wasn't like House but in the more broad sense. E.g. he didn't sadistically play games with his underlings (which he didn't much have) and Watson. He also wasn't about "blunt truth" and other such things House was.
Not criticizing you, but the premise that 'selfish nastiness' is both prevalent, or any more prevalent than it was.
Such as? (I can think of relecat, current examples if you said "a significant minority of the population", but I'm having more trouble with examples that fit the "huge majority" description.)