Since we intend this site to be a conversation, filled with the kind of back and forth all good conversations have, let me start by disputing Jack Shafer’s assertion that "the essence of conversation is disputation."
I disagree (how's that for disputation?). I think the essence of conversation is revelation. Conversation is about revealing information, revealing feelings, revealing insights -- and having them revealed to you. Disputation is one way to do this. But there are many other ways: bantering, flirting, telling tales, gossiping, joking around -- all the intimate ways we communicate every day with our friends. And blogs have made it possible to communicate that way with thousands we’ve never met.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love disputation and we have plenty of it on the site (see David Mamet on John Simon). But does anybody really look at the media landscape and think: "Hey, you know what I could use a little more of? Dispute. Just not enough of that out there."
And in answer to Shafer’s musings on whether -- once the rough and tumble gets rougher -- I "keep enough air kisses in stock to mend all the owies": Yes, don’t worry, I do. I have a large cache of them hidden deep inside a bunker in an undisclosed location. Call if you need one, Jack.