In polities, in the courts, even on the ubiquitous TV talk shows, it is good form to pick an intellectual fight. People attach each other--hurl insults, even--and it counts as logical argument. I cannot understand it. It seems that our society favors a kind of ritualized aggression. Everywhere you look, in newspapers and on television, issues are presented using the terminology of war and conflict. We hear of battles, duels (决斗) and disputes. We see things in terms of winners and losers, victors and victims.