Is art an outlet for our depravity, which may curtail and mollify it in reality? This is an undercurrent I detect in The Economist as of late, but it is likely to reflect wider cultural sentiments. Here the newspaper gingerly argues that violent movies may thrive in peace-loving societies; there that waxworks of the royal family offer a quaint way to prolong the life of the British monarchy; and over yonder it suggests that pedophilia on the Web may be better than the real thing. As long as you do not touch, you should be able to gawk in the hope that this will be enough to placate your crooked cravings. This is an empirical question, of course, and I leave it to the diligent ones for thorough investigation. But art as a window of depravity is an attractive idea. It certainly explains, and perhaps also justifies, much of contemporary art. And we owe it to the mighty newspaper.