Reply #7: I have no quarrel with that list. HOwever, I am looking for a place to post [View All]

[DramaDragon]

the following inquiry, and since this subject at least mentions conservatives, I guess I will put it here. It is an opportunity to actually exchange views with an individual and get a more personal, less automatic, impression of who they are and where they are coming from. The folks on the other side of the spectrum are not all freaks or morons, and I for one think the divide between Them and Us is too wide. Well, okay, I am on the mature side of 50, an old hippie for what it is worth. Tired of demonizing. Anyway, there are some articulate and informed folks on this site who may appreciate a personal challenge; by the way, the reds have to listen and try to understand the blues too.

FORWARD: Recognizing that opinions differ, and then creating the means for people to engage in constructive rather than destructive conversations, can reduce invective debate and set the stage for the deeper dialogue so necessary to democracy, negotiation, and solving the problems our nation faces.

RedBlue will be an interactive Internet application that will provide an exciting yet safe way to engage directly with someone on “the other side” of the political spectrum. This new approach to civic engagement is designed to leave behind the confrontational and polarizing forms of discourse that dominate today’s Red vs. Blue debates and reintroduce Americans to the old-fashioned notion that in matters of public policy, there can be room for reasonable people to disagree.

RedBlue will create a private, one-on-one online dialogue process by matching participants with contrasting views. "Counterparts" will learn about the ground rules of productive dialogue, then engage on a difficult issue by viewing or reading a fictional narrative scenario that frames a front-page issue in personal, rather than theoretical, terms. Their email-style discussion will be monitored by a "virtual facilitator" that will make suggestions, provide feedback, and offer to step in when the heat of the moment threatens to derail the civility of the dialogue.

CHECK OUT: http://www.redblueus.org/