Quotable

This:

The people who must never have power are the humorless. To impossible certainties of rectitude they ally tedium and uniformity. Since an essential element of the American idea is its variety, I have tried to celebrate things that are amusing for their own sake, or ridiculous but revealing, or simply of intrinsic interest. All of the above might apply to the subject of my little essay on the art and science of the blowjob, for example, while not quite saving me from the most instantly misinterpreted of all my articles, concerning the humor deficit as registered by gender. Still, I like to believe that these small-scale ventures, too, make some contribution to a conversation without limits or proscriptions: the sin qua non of the sort of society that knows to keep the solemn and the pious at bay.

That's from the preface to Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens, which is Hitch's last published work and my current read. Apropos of the reference above, here's Hitchens' blowjob piece, which is both irreverent and truthful, not to mention literary and quite interesting.  The outraged reaction to Hitchens' piece on the feminist blogs was just as entertaining (if not more so) than the essay.  I tried to find one of the funnier examples of "outrage" but was unsuccessful in my googling (I know I read it on some blog like "Feministing" or the like).  You'll just have to take my word for it.

And we've digressed.  As usual.  The point is: keep the humorless at bay.  And NEVER fail to mock them when you have the opportunity.