why do i feel implicated in this conversation? why do i feel compelled to reply? it's as if we're at a party, and i'm terribly drunk, and you come up and tell me that cuba is a pure marxist state or that the talking heads are not punk rock, and i argue with you until my mouth is dry and the girl i was with has left and we're trading perfectly meaningless abstractions that have nothing to do with marxism or punk rock. why can message board arguments do this? why was i this close to indulging your latest twaddle bomb? what's at stake?