There is absolutely no good reason why, beside the slogan “Just The News…”, Breitbart.com should run an ad banner for Saw III, the adjacent tagline of which reads “Suffering? You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet…”. Some microscopically attributed shill’s blurb adds, “The Best ‘Saw’ So Far!”

The rancid trend I poked at with contempt last year rolls along, courtesy of a brand of capitalism that’s enjoyed a liberating series of lobotomies: moral, aesthetic, ethical, etc. The point isn’t to ban Saw ads. That defeats the whole purpose — and possibility — of voluntary restraint. When the law has to reach into private conduct, even including publicized endorsements of the filth-ridden and profane, the authority of the culture that law seeks to protect is already cracked in a way legislation cannot by nature heal.