Sex! Politics! Religion!

There you have it; the three topics you are not supposed to discuss in polite society. Well, poop! Why not? If not the three most interesting topics of discussion they are certainly right up there in the top ten.

‘Discuss’ is an interesting word, derived from a Latin root meaning ‘to shake to pieces,’ which is, I suppose, why we are urged to avoid rending the polite fabric of social chit-chat by raising the banned topics.

As denizens of the blogosphere, political junkies of the left and the right, we cheerfully rend what’s left of the social fabric of polite discourse by our partisan rants. We care. We are passionate. We know that civilization and who we are as Americans somehow hangs in the political balance.

I’m not sure this sense of things is shared, or shared with the same intensity and urgency, by the vast majority of our fellow citizens. In particular I wonder how many of our politically sensitive, but non-blogging, friends even know we have web logs.

So let me suggest that one day a week we let our blogs go dormant, leave the virtual world, and make the effort to engage acquaintances, friends, and co-workers in the real world; quietly suggesting some political issue that particularly concerns us, explaining why we think it’s important, and asking them to give it some thought, too.