Every once in a while, a few black parents start a ruckus about their kids having to read Huckleberry Finn because the N word is often used in the novel. Their reaction reflects a basic naivete about works of art and context: the use of the N word in this masterpiece is not meant to disparage blacks but to give a snapshot of the insulting ways people treated, and referred to, African-Americans at that time. As a matter of fact, H. Finn is considered to be one of the most anti-racist novels in the history of literature by literary scholars because it exposes the inhumanity of the pre-Civil-War white America and reveals the humanity of Jim. I believe this same principle of conscious or subconscious disregard and misunderstanding of the context is operating in the flap over the use of the N word by Bill Maher. Being too much of a comedian ever-ready for a funny repartee, Maher instinctively reacted to the straight man role of Ben Sasse, who fed him a line he couldn't resist.