Gosh I like Ricky Gervais. I like his cynicism, I like his self-deprecation, and I do like good snark. But I didn’t like him at the Golden Globes.

Last night he was simply…mean.

Angelina Jolie is a bad actor. The HPFA president is incontinent. Tom Cruise and John Travolta are closet gays. The Sex and the City actresses are old and ugly.

Take that! BOO-YAH.

Some people thought it was funny, if uncomfortable. I just found myself uncomfortable. When I tried to figure out why, it struck me:  he was touching on every person’s greatest insecurity.

Perhaps I’ve gotten wishy-washy in motherhood. Maybe my early forties have mellowed me into a humorless marshmallow. Or maybe it seems that at the same time I am shrinking away from the venom in politics, arming my kids from the early rumblings of mean girls and schoolyard bullies, I just don’t want my entertainment cruel.

At dinner with friends on Friday night, Isabel made a passionate plea for bloggers and media types to stop picking on Justin Bieber. “He’s only 16,” she said, exasperated. “He’s just a kid!”

I thought she had a point.

Do you think 2011 will be a year of kindness? Is mean out? Or will cynicism and snark always get us through the tough times?