I was supposed to write a column for today giving you my thoughts on the NBA's various postseason awards. But that feels very inappropriate now.

Just when I was wondering how much serious discourse we, as a nation, could take in a week's time, a stunning tragedy unfolded that makes Don Imus, preemptive strikes against hip-hop, and even criticisms of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton look inane.

As the bickering continued about race, sports and the influence of rap, the deadliest shooting rampage this nation has ever seen took place at Virginia Tech.

How quickly things get put into perspective. All week, we've been shouting instead of listening -- arguing about whose race can say what, which race has the copyright on injustice, who has an agenda and who doesn't, who's right and who's wrong. That seems asinine when someone just used college students for target practice.

Now seems as good a time as any for us to get over ourselves and realize there are serious problems in America that aren't nearly as prejudiced as some of us are.

The Imus situation pushed us toward an important conversation. And this shooting should put us at another critical mass when it comes to dealing with what values are being promoted in our society -- especially to our young people.

I'm not simplistic enough to blame what happened at Virginia Tech entirely on movies, music and other entertainment -- just as I refuse to hold Snoop Dogg responsible for Imus' making racist and sexist remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team. But certainly our love and exaltation of the lowest common denominators in society have contributed to a lack of regard for life and a lack of respect for one another and have made basic common decency all but extinct.

We've allowed ourselves to become culturally polluted -- an issue that extends far beyond misogynistic rap lyrics. A friend of mine just went to see Quentin Tarantino's new movie "Grindhouse" and told me she had trouble sleeping that night because the film was so violent. But remember, that's considered "art."

This isn't about controlling what people can and can't watch or listen to -- or infringing on anyone's right to choose. This is about being real enough with ourselves to realize that if we don't exercise more cultural responsibility, things will get worse. It wasn't even a year ago that a 32-year-old gunman stormed an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania and shot 10 little girls, five of whom were killed. We thought the Columbine rampage was a once-in-a-lifetime tragedy. Turns out it was a sign of things to come.

Violence is a problem massive enough to warrant serious attention from blacks and whites. If we continue to look at it as a problem only prevalent in certain communities, we won't get anything solved. This is an issue we all must care about. Otherwise, we'd better get used to feeling stupefied as violent acts continue to surpass one another.

The unfortunate part is that it takes something like what happened at Virginia Tech -- the last place anyone would have guessed the nation's deadliest shooting would take place -- for us to understand how pointless our differences are.

After the Columbine massacre -- and its eight-year anniversary, coincidentally, is Friday -- then-Vice President Al Gore expressed sentiments we would do well to remember as we try to comprehend this ghastly catastrophe:

"At such a time, we need each other."

Jemele Hill, a Page 2 columnist and writer for ESPN The Magazine, can be reached at jemeleespn@gmail.com.