Over the summer, while at a friend's house, I had the chance to see Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" again: a movie I've always considered to be a timeless, classic comedy.

When we got about halfway through, my friend's wife - who'd never seen it before - wondered aloud "how can they even sell this, anymore?"

A good question. "Blazing Saddles" hosts a great deal of racial and ethnic stereotypes. The word "nigger" - along with almost every other slur imaginable - can be heard in the script. They make fun of Germans, Jews, Indians, Gays, Chinese, Texans, Irish... everybody.

Yes, it is a wonder that movie hasn't been attacked and removed from the public record. I'm sure some people have tried, somewhere, too. Fortunately for us, that afternoon, they missed Southern Maryland. Fortunately for everyone else, the movie's still out there to be found.

Words and insults put aside, "Blazing Saddles" isn't what I would call a "prejudiced" movie. I say this because those who use the language in its full, angry and/or demeaning context either do not succeed in the end, or are not vindicated by the movie's tone. On the contrary, they either get shown up as the villains they are, or else come around to accepting others by film's conclusion. The townspeople learn to love their "nigger sheriff," and let all the railroad workers - even the Irish - stay in their town. In spite of having to deal with all of the silly prejudice against them, the good guys win.

So does the charge of prejudice come from the fact that the movie laughs and pokes fun at it instead of excoriating it? Would it have been better if it had dealt with it in the same dour, overcast manner adopted by many anti-racist activists? Would a waggling finger and pursed lips be better than a laugh at the bastards' expense?

Or, what if it had used a more harsh method to deal with the issue? What if this had been a true action movie, with Clevon Little and Gene Wilder using their six-guns to blow away the racist bad guys? If they'd been heroes in a western-themed Blaxploitation film, mowing down Slim Pickens and his posse, would that have made the use of such language okay?

Part of the silliness of the whole thing is that this is Mel Brooks we're talking about: among the last people I'd ever call prejudiced. I see him as someone who points out our inhumanity to one another with humor, rather than other, more "serious" and/or violent methods. And maybe it really was just meant for yuks, too, but I've always seen the movie as an anti-racist statement.

There's some people who disagree. And often, the disagreement springs from their confusing a humorous take on a situation with the thing itself. These folks, too tightly-wound and unable to see the subtleties in life, think even the use of the words themselves - no matter the speaker or the situation - indicate prejudice in action.

They also have a problem with the use of stereotypes in general, whether they're used in a serious or humorous work. If anyone, anywhere, could be offended by it, then it's as frowned upon as the more vitriolic, violent symptoms of prejudice. And that's a point that's even more pernicious than the whole question of using racially-charged language.

Stereotypes are tricky. There is little debate that there are alcoholic Indians on the Reservations, Muslim terrorists in the Middle East, African-American gangbangers in the ghetto and backward people to be found in the South. It's also true that there are alcoholics, terrorists, b-boys and dumb bunnies of every color and stripe imaginable, and that they can be found everywhere else. And it's also quite true that there are perfectly normal folks to be found anywhere, too.

But for some reason the previous examples really stick out in our heads. They are a part of our shared culture. And that's why we say they're stereotypical: "central casting," as some would say.

One of the best writing mentors I ever had said that we should either avoid stereotypes, or turn them upside-down, in order to be more effective writers. However, you can also go a little too far the other way, at which point you're being a shill for political correctness. And then you're going to offend the folks who take great offense at what they deem to be obvious examples of political correctness!

So, if you can't win, I guess the best thing to do is to not let the line be drawn by others, but by your own conscience. If you think something is funny, then you don't have to justify the humor to anyone but yourself. And if you think you've gone too far, then maybe you have. But up until those points you can always say that others' charges have more to do with what's going on in their minds than what went on in yours.

Just don't be messing with us Pagans, or I'll turn you into a frog.

Hello my name is Billy Bob and I don't give a damn - I got myself some white sheets straight from the Ku Klux Klan - I got myself a daughter and she's a mongoloid - because I married my sister and our gene pool's been destroyed.

Tiny Town - The Dead Milkmen.