Myth of responsibility

More and more, Americans are turning to courts to attack socialand cultural wrongs - or to tilt at windmills.

Among the latest attacking cultural ills are the parents ofthree students killed by another student at a Paducah, Ky., highschool last year. The parents seek $130 million in damages fromseveral computer game companies, two Internet pornography sites andthe makers of the 1995 movie "The Basketball Diaries," starringLeonardo DiCaprio.

The purveyors of mindless violence in entertainment are thedespicable bottom feeders in our culture who make fortunes appealingto baser instincts. This is a price we pay - and must tolerate - ina free society. While Dennis Byrne expresses a different opinion onthis page, the horrid computer games, the violent porno Web sites anda mediocre movie did not kill these children. No one knows how manyyoung people played the same games, logged on to those Internetlocations or saw that movie. But we know that only one, MichaelCarneal, 14, opened fire on fellow students. The loss suffered bythese three families is unbearable, but this suit is not the answer.Under the category of tilting at windmills comes a suburban mansuing toothbrush makers and the American Dental Association becauseimproper brushing can lead to "toothbrush abrasion" of the gums. Hewants warning labels and, of course, money. This is just anotherfrivolous suit that wastes time in already overloaded courts. EveryAmerican should have access to the courts, but the sponsors ofutterly baseless lawsuits like this one should be made to pay all thecourt costs of their irresponsible actions.In another suit, dean Daniel Fischel of the University ofChicago Law School and his former partners won a $45 million verdictagainst some New York lawyers who tried to twist the justice systemto take revenge against the Chicagoans. Lawyers suing lawyers - thelogical denouement of our litigious society.