A lot of folks have pointed me to this godawful column -- an alleged attempt at humor -- by Joel Stein in TIME, lamenting the rapidly shifting demographics of his hometown of Edison, New Jersey. Immigration has changed the face of the local population. And that face is Indian: My Own Private India.

For commentary, I point you to this post at Sepia Mutiny, which thoroughly rips the hell out of Stein and his old world, the-"dotheads"-have-taken-over view of Edison. I'm with Anna -- the title was really the only clever thing about the piece:

Let me tell you what I liked about the essay which all of you wanted me to read, first: the title. I loved the B-52s in high school and I love lifting blog titles from song titles. Clearly, Stein was referencing "Private Idaho", which was a bit before my time (released: 1980) and to my INDIAN ears, a bit annoying. I preferred a single from a full decade later— "Deadbeat Club". I used to put it on a lot of my mix tapes. Sigh.

Now that we got THAT out of the way, let me tell you what I disliked about Stein's "meditation" on immigration. See what I did there? Huh? Huh? INDIAN STUFF, AGAIN!

Every. Thing. Else.

Let's get started, shall we? But first, to really do Mr. Stein justice, I'm going to light some incense, play a "Jai Ho" remix, and nosh on some curry— but daintily! I don't want to stain my exotic silk costume, which I bought in…of all places…Edison. What are the odds, right? Oh, wait…according to TIME magazine, the odds are very good that my Indian garb is from Edison. The whole place is infested with Patels. Did I mention there's a dot on my forehead? I'm a dothead! Wheee! Oh, but I am getting ahead of myself (I am waggling my head as I type that. If you're reading this, switch to an "Apu" voice, would you? Thanks, you're a doll. I mean, you're an Aishwarya!)

And with that, she proceeds to tear Stein's shit up, because it's neither funny nor edgy. Read the full post here: An Unfunny Joel Stein Walks Into Some Cow Dung. In reaction to the reaction, Stein tweeted: "Didn't meant to insult Indians with my column this week. Also stupidly assumed their emails would follow that Gandhi non-violence thing." Well, you got the stupid part right.