Two Weeks After Shootings, We Are Back to Old Habits

    It took two weeks for us Americans to get back to old habits.
    In the days following the Connecticut school shootings, I remember a compelling article by Mike Lopresti in USA Today titled, "Have We Had Enough Yet?" In the article, he critiqued a culture of violence in the United States that is no doubt a primary contributor to tragedies like the Connecticut and Aurora, Colo., school shootings. He commented how Hollywood, out of "sensitivity" to the victims' families, was delaying the release of movies like Django Unchained, Jack Reacher, and other blood-soaked flicks scheduled for release in December and January.
     For at least a week or so, it seemed as if Americans may have had enough. In my little fantasy world, I envisioned parents removing violent video games from their homes. I envisioned our social consciousness being sufficiently pricked, so that we would refuse to pay our money to support blood-soaked movies. I imagined Hollywood producers and actors accepting responsibility for their part in the cultural and moral epidemic.
     These sentimental dreams came crashing back to earth this afternoon as I read an article in the Lifestyle section of USA Today. It turns out that Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Django Unchained are raking in tens of millions of dollars as the No. 1 and No. 2 movies at the box office this past weekend.
     Our disdain for violence, I now see, was only a temporary fast. We have pulled a chair back up to the table of blood-soaked movies. Sorry, Mike Lopresti, but unfortunately it seems we have not had enough.