Just had an intense and meandering conversation with Doug that started with the US gun laws (due to the recent Supreme Court decision) and ranged to changes in styles of female violence due to feminism, rights cultures versus duty cultures, building respect in relationships, and the fact that gun-related deaths in the US have only just overtaken motor vehicle deaths per annum, which led to discussions of peak oil and finally somewhere in there to the idea that we need to teach the next generation both how to have respectful relationships all the while teaching them about self-respect so that they can talk down the previous generation so they don’t get beaten to a pulp by someone running around bashing random strangers with bricks.
I treasure having conversations like this.
Which reminds me: I’d just like to flag the idea of an American-themed 2008 US Election Night Party at our place. For us, that means Wednesday November 5. Polls will probably close around lunchtime our time, but there’ll still be lots of interesting stuff going on at 5pm our time, methinks. And it’s the day before Doug’s birthday, so it’ll be a combined thing. Waaay ahead of time organising.