what rough beasts

If ever I needed justification for my opinion that that horrible Internet phenom, Happy Tree Friends, http://happytreefriends.atomfilms.com/ is a sign of our culture's decline, I've gotten it in the emails that have continued to come two -- count'em -- years after my op-ed in the Washington Post. For some reason, three or four have arrived just this past week, swearing and ranting and threatening me with a fate worse than that of the bloody cartoon bears/rabbits/squirrel victims, in defense of the writers' favored entertainment. I haven't been responding, but here's a blanket answer to these hot-blooded correspondents: the cartoon promotes savagery, ipso facto (look it up.)