Why it's ok to make fun of rednecks

Mr. Brooks--

Re: today's column

Disclaimer: I am a straight, male, Jewish, upper-middle-class technology professional. There is nothing I would love more than a comedian with the courage to skewer the double tall skinny soy mocha latte-drinking class here in Seattle. I personally find the laughs never stop when I insult the rigid, dogmatic, anti-fun, anti-semitic, uptight denizens of Seattle. In fact, it is their small world view and lack of exposure to people outside their social class that makes them so ripe for satire -- just like rednecks!

Most "rubes" have never met a fat, man-hating, bull-dyke and wouldn't know one if it smacked them in the face. My jokes are only funny to that tinier elite of people who have lived on more than once coast, or even more than one country. On the other hand, the American Redneck is a universal icon that is easy for people around the world to discern, because he has been represented (as you noted) so worshipfully for so long in American culture -- since Jefferson's agrarian vision.

The other thing I think you might have missed is that redneck humor usually is a thin veneer over racist, bigoted, or sexist beliefs. An example: "You're a fag! Hahahahaha." It's just not very funny. Most conservatives (yourself obviously not included) just need to say "liberal" and their audience knows that this word is code for black, jewish, gay, etc. One of the reasons I have such a distaste for Republicans is their unwillingness to just come out and say it: they don't like blacks, jews, or gays, and they think the world would be better if we knew our station. Behind closed doors, people like George Allen never have trouble using the "n" word. The man almost had a heart attack when he found out he might be Jewish. The selection of Trent Lott as minority whip shows that the party has no shame whatsoever about its just below the surface bigotry.

People who have been oppressed for centuries (or in our case, millenia) frankly have a right to come a little unhinged when we finally get our chance to let people know what we think and how we feel without getting killed for it. The fact that you are down with the Republicans makes me wonder about you, since behind you're back they're still going to call you a n****r loving Jew.