I watched this interesting thing on Discovery Channel Sunday night, explaining the Oracle at Delphi. Apparently, an archaeologist and a geologist were studying in the same area and were introduced by a mutual friend. Out at dinner one night, the geologist told his new buddy that he wished he could have been with him on his explorations and have seen the fault lines under Delphi. The archaelologist called bullshit as then-current thought held Delphi to be stable. Having drunk a lot of wine, the two argued until the geologist said, "Would you know a fault line if you saw one?" and the archaeologist had to admit that he would not.

Instead of being a baby and belly-aching all over the Internet about how he was "mean" to him, the archaelologist teamed up with the geologist and not only rewrote two hundred years of archaeology but actually determined the manner and cause of the effects in the temple as ancient history records. Not only was there a fault under the temple, but it released ethylene gas which accounted for the euphoria and muscle spasms some experienced when getting prophesied to. It also revealed why they closed up shop in 342 AD: not because of the rise of Christianity, but because there was a small tremor which closed the fault and the gas vented somewhere else.

So an ancient mystery was solved by two drunken jerks having an argument. But their disagreement was a rational, dispassionate one.

That's what some comic book commentators (I can't bring myself to write "critics") don't understand about discourse: that every disagreement doesn't have to be an emotionally-fuelled one.

For example, I had occasion to write this in response to my new pal Greg Burgas's "Am I now Larry Young's bitch?" on Comics Should Be Good: "I don't consider anyone my bitch. If anything, I think it's a little sad that there seems to be a faction of the blogospheriverse that seems to think that getting review copies in the mail from a publishing house of long-standing seems to equal some sort of bribe on my personal behalf.

"Like 'em, don't like 'em; the company doesn't care. If you're getting a review copy of our work, it's because we already respect your opinion or we think we might.

"Whether I have an 'online persona' or not is something I've sort of tired talking about, but the upshot is this: I have a unique personal cultural background and ability to express myself in written English. This may or may not jibe with an individual audience member's culture or ability to parse meaning from my outreach. Is that a 'persona'? Me, I just think people don't always understand each other. Whaddaya gonna do?"

Take out the emotionally-cued responses to a message board posting that makes you upset, and take a minute to read the words. Sometimes, we might just all learn something... like on This Very Special Episode of the AiT Daily Update.