I wasn't going to mention this, but I can't get it out of my head. An uncle of mine sent out an e-mail, which was a joke about an Arab. It annoyed me. Not because it's a joke about an Arab and I think Arabs shouldn't be made fun of. Hell, anyone is fair game in my opinion. It's what's behind the joke that makes it offensive or not.

That's why Northerners can't understand why Southerners are so touchy about jokes about them; Southerners make jokes about themselves that are funny because there's an element of truth to it. Jokes about Southerners that are made by Northerners tend to belittle Southerners and are mean-spirited. There is a definite difference between the two forms of humor.

For instance, Larry the Cable Guy can stand up on stage and play the character of a stereotypical Southern redneck, and tell accompanying jokes about himself and Southerners, and it's funny, because as outrageous as his stories may be, you know he's full of shit. Doug Stanhope can stand up there and tell jokes about Southerners and people want to kick his ass, because Stanhope's rants about Southerners are full of hatred, and he belittles Southerners with mean-spirited barbs.

I can't seem to come up with an explanation here. Maybe I should just post the joke.

Akhmed the Arab came to the United States from the Middle East, and he was only here a few months when he became very ill.

He went to doctor after doctor, but none of them could help him.

Finally, he went to an Arab doctor who said, “Take dees bocket, go into de odder room, poop in de bocket, pee on de poop, and den put your head down over de bocket and breathe in de fumes for ten minutes.”

Ahkmed took the bucket, went into the other room, pooped in the bucket, peed on the poop, bent over and breathed in the fumes for ten minutes.

Coming back to the doctor Akhmed said, “It worked. I feel terrific! What was wrong with me?”

The Muslim medicine man said, “You were homesick.”

This joke was sent to me by a Christian. It was distributed to other people whom I assume were Christians. Now, if you can't spot the raw hatred in that joke, then you're not paying attention.

This bothers me because I was raised as a Christian. But somehow I got different lessons out of the Bible and teachings of Jesus Christ than everyone else. I've heard Christians say “I don't hate you, but I hate what you represent,” or “I hate what you've done.” It's not supposed to be about hating entire groups of people. You can hate what they stand for. You can hate their organizations. But you're supposed to love the people themselves. That includes the Arabs. That includes the Liberals, the homosexuals and the activist judges.

But that's not where we stand as a Christian nation. Our nation was built upon the subjugation of a people of a certain race, and hatred flowed from there. Hatred is a part of our cultural makeup. That's what we are. My uncle, whether he realized it or not, just referred to Arabs as filthy niggers. It's the same old song. The only difference is the target. And it's just as offensive.

I won't mention this to him. There's no point. He doesn't hear anything I say. All he hears is that I disagree with him. He probably thinks that some day I might “get into church” and get my head screwed on straight. He's a perfect, living example of what's wrong with this country, in that he doesn't know much about what's going on in the world, he knows didly squat about history and he doesn't feel a need to inform himself on any issue before forming an opinion on it. He is also conflicted, because he calls himself a Democrat, but everything that comes out of his mouth sounds like a Republican talking point. For instance, every political discussion gets steered back to Bill Clinton.

I fear for my country. I really do.