Common Insight posseses a simple layout with an appealing close up of an eye with the Earth reflected in it. This is a very new site containing only 15 entries. The author states in the About section that he started writing because of his frustration with shallow bickering in political thought, and wanted to see a deeper discussion take place. He intends to state his opinions and defend them, but remains open to new ideas. Hmmm, an open mind! Sounds interesting. Let’s check it out.
I began to read the entries, starting at the beginning. Imagine my surprise when the title of his first essay turned out to be ‘Why the Gay Marriage Debate is Over’. This did not quite jibe with the stated purpose of his site. But let’s not be too hasty, what else is in here?
Each entry contains numerous links to his essays or pertinent information elsewhere on the net. He admits there might be too many links and I would agree with him there. Topics range from politics to Extinction Level Events, including tsunamis, or whatever else captured his attention that day. When I clicked on a link to read an essay and then used the ‘back’ button, I was taken to more essays. This made it necessary to go back to the opening page and scroll down to the entry I had been reading, making for some frustrating navigation.
Since there are not that many entries and this blog is so new, it is hard to tell how it might evolve over time. If his stated purpose is to engage in intellectual debate, it would seem imperative to include a comment function, so we might join in, and see what other readers are saying. The only thing I found was his email address, which is fine, but one of the points of open debate is that it be…. well, open.
This site is very much like other political blogs. Lots of linkage, convicted opinion and succinct commentary on current events. However I think it fails in it’s stated purpose, which is a give and take of ideas with readers.
I would consider re-visiting this site in a few more months to see how it develops. In my opinion, it is a little too soon to tell. The potential is there, it just needs some tweaking.