Give an introvert a microphone and he becomes Don Rickles.

DJ, who I know personally, can sometimes get me so riled up that I post ridiculous things here. Tonight, we had a Mudmail exchange wherein we disagreed on almost every point but did not get angry or snarky, just presented countering views. That revealed something to me: When we post in the Lounge, many (or most) of us play to a larger audience, not the person to whom we respond.

Those aren’t dialogues, they are performances. We try to be the smartest, best informed, and wittiest in order to win the argument as judged by everyone else. When bettered, we can’t back down because too many others are watching—last word and all that.

But heck, no one remembers these repeated arguments. Let alone who won. It’s a microphone. And like watching a comedian, no one can actually recall our jokes.