Blogging Fun

As a preliminary I have to say that one of the things I've had reaffirmed from guest blogging at Eschaton is that satire doesn't just make people laugh, but makes some of them pissed off.

That is what satire is supposed to do.

One suprising thing is that until late in the day, and at this blog, no one complained about satire directed at the Catholic Church, which I would fully expect. And their complaints are not entirely unjustified (and I'll also concede that American Catholics have been the subject of discrimination).

I am obviously using satire to mock the present establishment, and the Catholic Church and the papacy is certainly that. People's faith is important to them...however, my lack of faith is important to me too. Feel free to write satire about we unbelievers, or secular humanists, I don't care.

But the really surprising thing is that the complaints came from people based on the fact that I mocked the Pope because he is GERMAN.

I may be paraphrasing a bit, but one person commented, "why not just replace German with African-American?" as evidence of my profound bigotry.

To which I can reply, I must be even more self-loathing that I think I am, as I am of substantial German Heritage.

This person would have a point if:

1. Germans have been substantially discriminated against in American (they haven't, and don't give me the WWI stuff, that's nothing compared to other nationalities, races or ethnic groups -- need I remind you that it was an "Eisenhower" that commanded the Allies against Hitler?);

2. Germans had been systematically repressed in America;

3. African-Americans had been a substantial cause of one world war and the primary cause of its even bloodier sequel;

4. African-Americans had been responsible for the "Whitey-caust"

Should any of the above have been correct, I would have conceded the point.