So I went to a dinner party last night, at a co-workers house. True, ‘tis yet another point in my life that i feel overtly ‘adult,’ but that’s not the point here.

I had a wonderful time, socializing with the select few from my office that were invited (ooh, so clique-ish!) was easy and natural. Nothing seemed forced on anyone’s part and all seemed to genuinely enjoy spending the evening together. The food was great. The wine kept flowing. All were happy. Except when the topics of politics was dropped.

Now, I do love a healthy, intelligent political debate among a few friends that I can trust. I think it brings out an interesting and often hidden part of people. But as I was duped into first thinking last night, things do not always work out so well when not among trusted company.

To be fair, not much *actual* politics were discussed, but more, uh “PC” issues were their focus. Now, bear in mind that I do not think that I am necissarily the best sample of the male gender in terms of being a perfect cross-section of my demographic. But regardless, it is amazing to me the point in which a conversation stops being intelligent and remains emotional and petty.

A heated argument over gender equality arose and the people at the table reverted to heathens discussing a very important and worthwhile topic. It really was quite a shame. If civil tones had been used and people had stopped ‘shooting from the hip’ emotionally, perhaps some progress would have been made towards understanding the others’ point of view. But no.

Why is it that we go from children, who’s argument style is both simplistic and purely selfish to adult’s that argue in a vindictive and overly-complicated fashion. Most people last night were just out to prove how *right* they were and how *wrong* the other party was. Now, at least where I come from, that’s not a healthy discussion.

The other amazing part of it is that you really can pinpoint the exact moment in a conversation where people reach the line between reason and emotion. One minute they’re discussing with calm logic the said topic, a brief pause, followed by blinding emotional grandiose statements…sweeping in generalities and serving no purpose other than to “clear the battlefield” of discussion with their dramatic delivery.

I left a bit early. Most thought it was because I was younger, naive or whatever they normally think in such “big people work situations.” Really, I just couldn’t stand the juvenile approach to such a worthy topic.

Maybe it was the wine, but bruised egos were definitely apparent by night’s close. Oh well. This is adulthood, right?