Democratic Conversation

Mark Beyer

I started Democratic-Conversation to foment discussion, debate and reasonable conversation on the Web regarding the state of the world on its several most important stages: social, political, economic and cultural. I shan’t pass myself off as an expert of any subject. What I offer is testimony to what is happening around me. What Democratic-Conversation is not is a blog holding-cell for links to other sites; nor will it be filled with pithy remarks (though some pieces will be on the fun-satirical side). The essay is its format; the reasoned response its goal.

The essay demonstrates a focused perspective, where evidence, reason, and a cross-pollination between personal views, art, literature, film, society-at-large and politics (in all its subtle and overt guises) are used for associative possibilities. Only then can we help to express opinions. I am a mere human being, a voice in the crowd, with no particular pedigree other than a humanist perspective on life’s Comedy from many years asking questions of people and texts, then applying serious thought and criticism to those frames.

If I say I have come up with answers, it is only because I think so on this day. What the future holds is actually much more certain: I—we—really know nothing, unless we are willing to see, able to listen, and ready to learn. That is the least one can ask of another.
Today I write also for U.S. travel magazines, book publishers, newspapers, and an arts essay blog, Ways of Seeing. In 2006, I traveled Europe, where I now base my writing company, and from those initial travels I built European City Parks, a leisure-travel Web site to promote urban parks, where tourists and travelers can unwind. I encourage readers to comment on DC’s essays. If you would like to contact me directly, please email: mark at democratic-conversation dot com.