<snip>
	A very interesting point of view Mr. Campbell.

	Personally, I my main problem with the entire 'Bright Ranma and
Akane' setup is that while feigning hatred for each other is a good way to
keep their fathers from marrying them immediately it strike me as
dangerously counterproductive when the various LoveRivals(tm) show up.
	I think that the behaviour of Ranma and Akane towards each other
make it easy for Ryoga/Shampoo/Ukyo to convince themselves that they would
be doing a favor by "rescuing" their respective beloveds from a loveless
match, and if the lovebirds in question made it clear that they would be
happy together the situation would be far less hazardous in the long run. 
Needless to say the idea of Ranma and Akane encouraging the world at large
to beleive that they hate each others guts without even considering
letting anyone else in on the scheme _OR_ trying to defuse some of the
situations (i.e. Ryoga) strikes me as asking for potentially _fatal_
trouble.
	I understand the implication that R&A are trapped in their own
web of lies, but I can see where many would lack a great deal of sympathy
for them.  Make no mistake, I cannot see them revealing the truth now
without making a _lot_ of people very upset at them.

	As for your implicit assuption that R&A are the only kids capable
of pulling a fast one on the neighborhood Mr Barnes, I've decided to write
a little spamfic as a rebuttal.... <evil grin>

HTG