Notice the 'he/she' near the end of the sentence. Menad, remember, is talking about a hypothetical Martian. Is this not mind-blowing? Is this not a major statement of some kind? All I can say to that is, when I'm feeling chary of the litigious wrath of feminist Martians I usually run for the safe haven of the gender-neutral personal pronoun 'it'. I mean: is he kidding?

A: Apparently not. Nor is anyone. We've been going at this topic for a week now and I've begun to notice something which is that I'm really starting to think in terms of US and THEM more consciously than usual. Maybe more than I ever did. Should I blame you for this?

S: Blame is the sincerest form of flattery. Even more troubling to me is the fact that my response to the various nefarious activities of 'Them' started off, innocently enough, as disquiet and has grown much much darker of late. In the old days, I'd read about some legal battle in some far away southern state being waged about teaching Darwin in public schools and think…now what are they up to? I'd read it and sneer and move on. But if I'm honest with myself I have to admit that I now sense, flying in from a long way off perhaps but flying in nevertheless…this feeling of (for lack of a better word) hatred. My own, I mean. As in an 'I hate those dummies' kind of thing. Do you know what I mean?

A: I think so. It's still just a faint sensation, though, right? Like, it's probably still just disgust, contempt, etc. You wouldn't pick up a baseball bat and actually do something about it, so there's the major difference. Isn't it?