It may be wise to review the rules in order to deal with this emergency. I became aware of the urgency of the situation the other night when I went to dinner at a neighbor's house. Talk turned, as it does these days, to Bill Clinton's sex life, to Ken Starr's pursuit and Monica Lewinsky's dilemma. The atmospheric pressure in the room abruptly changed, from light and bantering to something like road rage. By the time we arrived at dessert, all present realized that an ugly weather system had moved in, something like the greenish air before a tornado.
Some people love dinner-party brawls.
It never happens. Turn aside temptation. Go deeply Zen. Repeat a mantra. Think of Rhett Butler at Ashley Wilkes' place early in Gone With the Wind, when he confronts the naive Southern glory-talk.