Hee. Haw.

The syndicated newspaper TV columnist our paper publishes every day has a fairly conventional journalistic progressive/left worldview, which I know because, being a columnist, he has no need to muzzle himself. You might not think writing about TV shows would offer much opportunity to preach political and social agendas, but there's always a PBS documentary or a CNN special report to hang it on.

Or even typical prime time sitcom fare. Here he is writing (for tomorrow) about some new show that tries to make hay out of the usual joke-butts: redneck rural Southern Americans.

"The stereotypes of trailer-park denizens, Texas bars, church ladies gone astray and Valium-guzzling women with big hair may be off-putting to some, but I can’t imagine they are the target audience for 'Sordid Lives' anyway."

OK, now do the usual substitutions -- stereotypes of any ethnic/social/sexual/religious subgroup for the one described above -- and see if you still think "but it's OK, because they're not the ones who are supposed to be watching it." One wonders if the columnist (one Kevin McDonough) feels that way, too. Or if, deciding his first justification doesn't quite work, he's got another one beside "but it's OK because I think the world is better when one subgroup is mocked and belittled in front of the nation for our entertainment."