With any luck, about 5 or 10 years from now, we'll get a book from Sullivan explaining how he was confused by his fear of a radical Muslim jihad into supporting military adventures that had no real moral justification. He'll go on to say that trying to force a "moderate Muslim" government into power was just a foolish conceit and that what we really should have done was withdraw our troops from the Persian Gulf, revoke our support for the forceful regimes we had propped up in the Middle East (including Israel) and let the people of that area seize the opportunity to embrace changes as they saw fit.

Sullivan will realize that trying to solve other people's problems only infantilizes them, and the condescension of a foreign power telling other people how they've got everything wrong does not make for a humane and effective relationship. The problem that Sullivan will explicate with great insight (or hindsight) is that it is essential to respect the beliefs and dignity of other people in order to gain their respect and compassion.

Respecting other people, as individual, free humans is strangely passive to people who want fast action and control of every situation. But it is the only way for pluralistic societies to form coherent, tolerant, peaceful governments. Force will never work. It will only force opposition.

Maybe, someday in the not too distant future, Sullivan will write that he has come to understand that if some foreign power were to invade our country that it would not matter what notions they had for our betterment, he would steel his resolve against their affront to our human dignity. He will finally see that we cannot do to other people what we would reject if it were done to us. Maybe, then, his mea culpas will have more resonance.

It reads like the most improbable of tales, full of highs and lows, nefarious villains, twists of fate, sad ironies, and tragic flaws -- and good old comeupance. Best of all will be the happy ending (please, please, please)!!

I'd like to have it recorded by some great speaker, mayber James Earl Jones, so I could listen to it every night before bedtime. It would be so comforting and sweet, that I'm sure my dreams would take flight.

Thanks, Sidney.

This is a very ancient concept in Western culture. When the truth is told, don't blame the person telling the truth.

I don't understand why we need to worry about this matter, anymore. If someone is hiding something, then he should have some concern to hide it well. If they are so ham-handed at minding their public personnas, they have no one to blame but themselves, when their deeds become noticed in the media.

The media best serve the purpose for which they were designed by making information available to the public, who do not need the condescension of self-appointed censors to protect them. Let the truth out, then let us all act as the independent-minded moral agents we are supposed to be -- whatever the outcome might be.

We make better decisions when we know the greatest amount of information. If the people of the United States were better informed about the gay citizens among them (in all manner of positions and across all distinctions) they would be less apt to make boogeymen out of them.

I guess I'm going to come off as a real stick in the mud, but I can't stand comedy that involves making a fool out of someone utterly clueless. It sets my teeth on edge and makes me cringe. Even the narrow-minded rubes that are often deceived and ridiculed on The Daily Show get my empathy up. I often switch channels after the monologue.

It seems like there are two kinds of fools that these comedians exploit: the guy who's so full of himself that he can't tell when he's being bullshitted, and the guy who is so sincere that he takes everyone else for being equally sincere and just doesn't see it coming. Either one can be a complete idiot or a real asshole. But neither one really deserves to be exploited for our amusement.

Maybe my sensitivity comes from the 12-16 years of school-yard ridicule and bullying that I had to endure. The bullies were always sure that it was just fine to gull me into just about any embarassment, and they always had a good laugh at my expense. Sometimes I'd be fooled into thinking that one of them was my friend, only to have him set me up for a big joke that everyone else seemed to already know was coming. Sometimes I'd just be taunted until I acted out in some way that they had known that they could provoke. In any case, I can still feel the sense of shame that enveloped me and the powerless, hopeless twist of betrayal in my chest.

I'm generally considered to be a witty guy, these days. I love a good laugh, and I think I almost died the last time I saw Eddie Izzard perform. It took hours for my face to return to normal and for me to slow my heart down. So it's not that I'm just a moribund and gloomy prig. I just can't stand to see anyone humiliated. It's too easy and too cruel.

Needless to say, I'll be skipping Borat.

Thanks, Tim, you've nailed it! I intend to quote you shamelessly!