Violence and Immitative Magic

The Colorado movie shooting will raise the usual responses: candlelight vigils, tearful interviews, the funerals, the gradual closely observed recovery of the survivors, the debate over the Second Amendment. Why don't we do something innovative? Why don't we try to make things better?

There is an obvious if complex target: The national preoccupation with violent entertainment. Since "The Godfather," entertainment violence has become an art form. And it is escalating; the difference between the violence of Connery and Craig in the Bond franchise, in both attitude and intensity, is exponential.  Nor is it entirely passive. Interactive games of carnage are commonplace and available to anyone.

Censorship? Freedom of speech? It is absolutely a problem. But so is the gun question. And first amendment concerns are already limited. One can not claim protection if your freedom of speech is a danger to those around you and what could be more obvious?

Proof? The entire mercantile world is based on advertising, on exposing people with pictures and sounds to products and notions on the assumption that people will be influenced by them. Already we have preciously eliminated smoking in films for this exact reason.

Anyway, like global warming, it just feels right.