inBOIL

1) It interrupts either my relaxation or my train of thought. It's a bit like someone waking you up to ask what you're dreaming about.
2) I can't recall being asked by a man, unless in a situation similar to what Baraka describes (shopping for a T.V.) It would never occur to me to randomly ask someone else what they're thinking; the mind is a private place, and if they want to share their thoughts, they will. Perhaps my personal experience is more gender-segregated than average.

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And you believe Bush and the liberals and divorced parents and gays and blacks and the Christian right and fossil fuels and Xbox are all to blame, meanwhile you yourselves create an ad where your kid hits you in the head with a baseball and you don't understand the message that the problem is you.