There's Sex in My Violence...Morford nails another one...

Admittedly, this is not directly book related, but it touches on issues of censorship, artistic freedom and the general public's rather bizarre willingness to tolerate wild amounts of violence while being "appalled" by people touching each other in overly friendly ways. The SF Gate just published There's Sex In My Violence! What's this lame soft-core porn doing in my ultraviolent "Grand Theft Auto"? I am outraged!. Now I admit, I am really fond of Morford and find him to be one of the better voices of reason and rationality in the mire of vapid chatter out there.

His point is, I think, a valid one...and one that has play in the book world. There have been a number of "great books" (and some not so great) that were banned at least in part as being pornographic (Ulysses comes to mind) and yet I can not think of a single one that banned for wanton and excessive violence (ok, perhaps Justine...but I think it was the sex). Why is it that so many of us (and here I mean, Americans) seem to be so willing to bath in blood, in books, games and video…but then get suddenly apoplectic about gratuitous sex (or not so gratuitous). There is something deeply sad (and arguably depraved) about a society that revels so in blood and is so shocked by other acts of the flesh. Your mileage, of course, may vary.