> Then why do I find these sites so incredibly, fall-over-laughing FUNNY? Huh. I guess I'm a hypocrite. This isn't really a post asking whether I'm wrong to like these sites, because I will continue to like them whether the answer is "yes" or "no", but opinions would be interesting.

As near as I can tell, the whole idea is that people these days take themselves *way* too seriously. Sites like Cliff Y. and Fat Chicks (and, until it started to suck, Fugly) make fun of people exactly *for* reasons that we're told it's "bad" to make fun of people about.

I've *been* fat. I can assure you, there's nothing "special" about being fat that for some reason makes it too important and magical to make fun of. And that's part of the point of Fat Chicks: yeah, they will make fun of fat people. And just listen to the idiotic responses they get from those people! Accusations of slander, the old "you're only making fun of us because you want to sleep with us" garbage, threatened lawsuits. Why on Earth is this easier and more sensible than laughing at the funny comments that Miguel makes? I mean, come on. If you weigh four-hundred-and-fifty pounds, you're fat. End of story. If you can't come to terms with that - if some Mexican kid saying you're fat enrages you - then there's something wrong with your head. Loosen up.

As the protagonist from my favourite comic strip (The Boondocks) once said: "'Tis the season to expose the hypocrisy of man." :-}