3 October

The Simpsons understood American violence as well as anybody. Itchy and Scratchy are all about the insatiable appetite for violence as entertainment, and the normalisation of violence in culture more generally. Bought an electronic game recently? Noticed how difficult it is to find any that don’t involve graphic violence? And not to put the cart before the horse, this isn’t saying violent games and films and tv produce violence, it says a violent society will have violent entertainment. Why that society is violent is different, I still think that’s because from day one every American was born a cowboy, it’s a founding myth. Down with the establishment, every man for himself.