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In a quest for the maintenance of a minimal semblance of good taste and to preserve what thin facade of social grace and respectability that still remains, I've made the decision not to post three entries that I deemed funny but overly damn offensive. That's right -- I made the right decision in order to avoid an outside chance of hurting other people's feelings. It's not a first, but it's a rarity.

You see, the first article was a recreation of an exchange I had a couple of weeks ago with someone who mocked my italianita and subsequently got punched right in the face. The second diatribe posed the question, "What's the deal with Protestants?" The third and likely most incendiary piece centered on my contention that Puerto Ricans and homosexuals have a lot more in common than appears on the surface.

The absurd reasoning behind all three posts made me laugh out loud, which pretty much guarantees that many people would have deemed them offensive. Seeing as I receieved a warning a couple months ago from the nancies at Blogger (but originiated by an anonymous passerby) that accused some of my material of unacceptably offensive (notice they haven't taken anything down, the spineless bastards), my loyal readers must miss out on these good bits of fun for now.

Long story long, I thought blogging was the new ultimate medium for self-expression? So I have a twisted sense of humor -- so what? It's not like I loathe the things or people who are the target of my jokes; you will never hear me spout hate speech or anything approaching it. In fact, the point of all three was basically 'can't we all just get along,' which is how I sincerely feel. For that reason, I am prepared to make fun of myself in a heartbeat. As an example of the confusing modern melting pot, consider my own name: My first name comes from my Irish great-grandfater and is the only one of names that makes clear sense; my middle name sounds very Italian, comes from a French saint though I am not French, and I am indeed Italian but from the other side of the family tree; and my family name was invented because my Polish great-grandfater realized that no one in America could figure out how to spell the real name. Out of the confusion over this and other cultural factors, I view things as an American and nothing else. The point is, race and ethnicity ought to be silly factors in the world's first liberal democracy, but people still get easily irked at the slightest offense. Until we look at each other as just Americans, we won't ever really be honest, and until we are honest, we won't really be funny. It's all very confusing, so I react by giving no quarter and letting everyone have it, myself included. It's not personal; take a step back and see that things are funny. Be willing to make fun of yourself, or you'll turn into a hugely unfunny dick.

Anyway, moving on from that mini-rant, look for the aforementioned posts in the archive at some point in the future. Discretion definitely blows, but just for the time being.