Dave Winer's "Respectful Disagreement" session just opened up at BlogNashville. The concept for the group will be to, in reality, have respectful disagreements with those in the room. Talk about on-the-job learning.

[3:08] Promptly enough, the show kicks off with a debate over whether the Republican party would be able to nominate a pro-choice candidate for president.

[3:15] Dave brings up perceptions of Rush Limbaugh by the left, which sets off a bit of a rumble.

[3:22] Transparency and accountability - "the best blogs have transparency and accountability." Someone else calls those terms "cliche."

[3:26] Rex Hammock brings up how disagreements get personal most of the time, when they don't need to, citing an example of his doing so with Winer.

[3:30] John Cox of Cox & Forkum engaged Winer because he was addressed after speaking on the side with Chris Muir. This has reached about five minutes or so of firestorm, concluding with Cox stating "I'm done." I hate to say it, but I did expect to have some vim and vigor.

[3:39] "You can have a debate, or you can have a dialogue." - Leonard Witt. So far, this is my take home of the session. But then again, it's only been thirty-nine minutes so far.

[3:45] Lots of discussion around "Crossfire" and other television programs making it big because of the fire that comes forth during the program. A few people state that those shows are entertainment, with one mentioning that they are just created for that purpose.

[3:50] Apparently, Dave Winer shrugging his shoulders and sighing off a comment by someone the room is supposed to be an example of "respectful disagreement." I think I made the mistake (?) of pointing out to him that doing so was the example of what people were trying to say is a frustrating thing about getting into discussions about politics, religion, etc. Of course, I didn't mean *personally* to make a point of using Winer as an example, but it happened to be put forth and I thought it was a proper thing to say. Apparently not, because I got shut down and Dave took a seat, leaving the group to "discuss among themselves."

[3:58] Check out Scared Monkeys, also liveblogging this shindig.

[4:07] Rex Hammock says that what has happened in the room is a metaphor for what has gone on in the blogosphere, from harsh talk (and overtalk) plus some decent conversation.

[4:20] Just noticed that Glenn Reynolds left when Winer sat down. He has the same thought I did when I spoke up about DW's mannerisms being impolite and disrespectful.

[4:21] DW just chided Stan Brown, who he accused of laughing at him.

[4:24] "You can't call a sonofabitch a sonofabitch without calling him a sonofabitch." - John Jay Hooker, Attorney at Law.

[update 5/11/05] Jason Clarke has some video over at Network Landscape.