Good analysis by Kurt Anderson on the current brouhaha over violence in the media:

And now we are supposed to pretend to be shocked. Some of the current sanctimony is sincere. But come on: since the 1960s, if not earlier, the cultural contradictions of capitalism have been the cultural contradictions of capitalism. Our ferociously efficient free-market system, the one bubbling along so nicely just now that Al Gore will be elected president, requires revenue maximization, which means every prospective buyer of every legal, medically safe product must be targeted. You may find Eminem and his lyrics disturbing -- ''I take seven kids from Columbine, stand 'em all in line/ Add an AK-47, a revolver, a nine, a Mack-11 and it oughta solve the problem of mine/ and that's a whole school of bullies shot up all at one time'' -- but he is a profit center for Universal (which distributes him) and Viacom (which promotes him). The business of America is show business, and show business isn't always pretty. Get used to it already.