Movies are now produced at costs that rival the gross national product of some small nations. Media including TV, music, internet, games, and casual cell phone use cost as much as it would to feed nearly every person in Africa. But there is another cost that cannot be calculated in dollars.

It seems like a competition between film producers that has no top end. The Da Vinci code cost a whopping $125,000,000 while Harry Potter cost $150,000,000. The Chronicles of Narnia comes in at 180,000,000 but falls short of the heaping price tag for King Kong which was $207,000,000. This is big money but after all it is only money.

All media has a by product that costs far more than money, they all pedal influence. That product costs more than the unsuspecting American may ever know and in many instances is more than they want to know. It is hard to believe that the debate about how media influences our young still rages. Hollywood remains aloof while it awaits the final definitive scientific study that proves that our children are worse off for the influence of media. Their fear is that a final answer would at last make them culpable. If they really cared perhaps they