As the actual purveyor of the original "joke" which ruffled more than a few feathers here, I just want to mention that I do appreciate the thoughtful commentary and debate on the subject.

I really had no idea that this joke would prove to be so controversial -- any more so than the oft-told lawyer joke for which the punchline is "A good start."

In fact, I am frankly flabbergasted that anyone would think it was intended to be read literally -- that I actually wished death upon millions of French citizens. But then, I would not be surprised to learn that Jonathan Swift took a few lumps for his over-the-top Modest Proposal, too.

(For those not in the know, Swift's infamous 1729 essay advocated breeding Irish children for cannibalism, to solve the food shortage.)

Now, maybe my joke was a lame attempt at satire -- but you must also understand that satire isn't always supposed to be laugh-out-loud funny. Good satire works on more than one level. If you didn't "get" it, you need to look one level deeper, and think about what the author is "really" trying to say.

Anyway, I don't mean to dwell on this endlessly -- but if you've stuck with this thread this far, you may also be interested in reading the follow-up comments that I posted to my blog over the past couple of days. Start with the following link and scroll down for more ...

http://www.zilberhere.com/blog/2003_03_02_zilberhere_archive.html#90364673