Hell and God cant Co-exist.

[Neo-Scholastic]

I tend to forget that this is an International forum. Some people will not be familiar with popular radio shows on National Public Radio in the USA. "The Prairie Home Companion" is a show that has been aired for at least 20-years now. It includes brief sentimental stories about a small town in Minnesota (Don'cha know). The storyteller is Garrison Keiller. He pokes fun at the culture of Norwegian-American Lutherans. It's all good fun, the urban professionals in the live audience laugh at the antic of the town folk who are represented as uneducated, emotionally stifled, hicks. I laugh too. Having grown up in a small Midwestern town I can see myself and some of my family members.

Now I live in Chicago where people make a big deal about their national heritages. The Polish-American's march on Pulaski day. Saint Patrick's is hugely important to the Irish-Americans. "Tony and Tina's Wedding" and "Flanagan's Wake" are two of the most popular long-running comedies in Chicago. Both poke fun at the idiosyncrasies of their respective national identities. At work we freely poke fun at each other based on stereotypes that are sometimes spot-on.

I say all this not to invalidate anyone's feelings about being offended. I just hope that those who were can understand that my comment to Jor, who I consider an online friend, that she was acting Irish by answering a question with another question was not intended to be derogatory. From where I stand comments like that are par for the course in a country and city where people can recognize and joke about the unique peculiarities of their own cultures.

So if now, after having fully explained my attitude and motivations, someone wants to continue vilifying me as a racist that it is their right, but I am not obligated to change how I express myself when I feel I have done nothing wrong other than provide insufficient context for what I said.