Timothy Garton Ash has a post about Belarus up at the Guardian’s new blog thingy, Comment is Free.
Most interesting about his post, though, is the way he is using it to gather ideas for a future column:
How do you think those who live in democracies – especially the democracies of Europe – should react? I’ll be writing about this in my Guardian column on Thursday. I’d appreciate your comments. Watch that post-Soviet space. Speak in this space.
My first reaction, I must admit, was to think… ‘why should I do your homework for you?’
But, on reflection, I find this a fascinating experiment. In my day job, I work in policy, and one of our mantras is ‘shape the debate’. By being the first organisation to speak on a subject, we can (if we do it right) set the parameters of any subsequent debate, ensuring that some topics are the centre of any discussion, and that others are more or less excluded.
In effect, instead of offering commentators the opportunity to respond to what he has already written, Garton Ash is offering commenters the chance to shape the debate on Belarus.
I have to applaud his experiment, and I really do look forward to seeing what he writes on Thursday, and comparing it to the comments he received. And – full disclosure - yes, I am one of those commenters who tried today to shape the debate. (Hint… I’m the one with the most well reasoned, wise and witty arguments).
I hope more commenters follow his example.