Thin skinned outrage

I haven't read Time in ages, so I completely missed Joel Stein's humorous essay on growing up in Edison, NJ, a town that has transformed into Little India. As he points out, surface impressions to the contrary, kids in Edison assimilate into America, oil-slicked hair and all.

The essay seems to have provoked indignation (for example: see here). For what it's worth, I found the essay funny and poignant. We all have romantic views about where we grow up, and when we go back as adults, we find it all changed and quite a bit more coarse. In poor Stein's case, the change was in the place's racial makeup. Pointing this out in a wistful way doesn't make him racist.