That quaint old custom came about because wooden crosses were placed at the edges of farmers' fields in medieval Europe. The plowhand would embrace the cross to maintain his soul in a state of grace against the very real possibility of marauders murdering him while outside the protection of the village, so as to guarantee him salvation. If he heard someone approach while far from the nearest cross, he would knock on the wood of his plow to invoke the blessing of the wooden cross.

In spite of our video games, we have very few marauders, proportional to the population, these days. Drive-by shootings in urban areas, even when the shooters accidentally kill bystanders, are over turf and merchandise (usually drugs), and can be seen as a brutal form of business competition in an environment where life is not valued by society at large anyway. (Witness Barbara Bush's remark on the Katrina victims stuck in the Superdome, to the effect that they're poor anyway and are used to such conditions.)

Only recently have we stopped holding executions as festival occasions. Drawing and quartering was considered a family entertainment, suitable for one and all. So was burning at the stake. Guy Fawkes Day is still celebrated, though he's only executed in effigy.

Savage violence upon real people has been committed throughout human history for the entertainment and education of others. Yet we have become, over the centuries, less likely to be amused by it.

The violence itself has become more horrendous because of the technology we can employ, the range we have, and the huge numbers we can kill. Talk about desensitizing! Killing hundreds by pushing a button from miles away, without ever seeing the results gives the whole process a sense of unreality that video games can't touch. Nor do they wish to.

Savage violence upon toys and fictional creatures has been committed throughout human history, as an exercise in imagination. We have always known the difference.

If we're going to condemn video games, we will also have to condemn Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd, Krazy Kat & Ignatz, and Punch & Judy.

If we have a problem empathizing with other people's suffering, we need to look elsewhere. Contact with other people would be a good place to start. We've gone to a lot of trouble to keep ourselves insulated from suffering. Even the terminally ill usually get shipped off to some facility never to be seen again until in the open casket, rather than staying at home among others in the community.

The end of bullying, by children and adults, would be another focus. Please remember that the boys who go into schools to shoot real people have had extensive contact with real people in those schools, little of it positive.

It's easy to blame violence in the real world on our interactions with imaginary people. We can fix that by banning imaginary violence. Changing the way we behave with real people takes more time and effort.