[Peace-discuss] you can go across the street

Fri Aug 22 09:40:51 CDT 2003

I've been reading the correspondence with interest, and have this to
offer: I turn to WEFT to hear alternatives to the status quo---
hopefully, a wide range of alternatives. Presenting recruitments ads is
not an alternative---that's what's happening all the time, and on all the
other stations. So the 'diversity' argument really doesn't hold.

Did WEFT think I forgot the recruitment ads, and WEFT, in
order to fair and well-rounded, needs to add them in? Or that the
section of the 'community'(a word that encourages muddled thinking, as it
always assumes there is one) who breathlessly waits by the radio to hear
recruitment ads, has no other station to hear them on?

Hey honey you can just go across the street, any street, and get your
recruitment ads.

Now what Mr. Paul King writes, now THAT is an alternative. With teeth.
It bites. YES!

I would not find that across the street.

Let's have that played, if it's really the 'diversity' argument that's at
the core here. If the good people(and they are) who run WEFT use the argument of
'including all parts of the community' (as Jason does) then, to be
consistent, they would need to include what Mr. King has written.
And then that would satisfy me, who thinks WEFT is there to keep the
alternatives to the status quo open.

(But I suspect Weft won't play what Paul has written as a PSA. I can
anticipate the argument against using it:
that Paul's PSA will seem too slanted, too biased, and make people think
that this is what Weft supports. Or perhaps, sweet hopeful perhaps, I'm
wrong?)

What the ACLU does, and what's embodied in the old saying, "I may
disagree with what you're saying, but I'll defend to the death your right
to say it" are elegant, and necessary, articulations of freedom of speech.

But the case at hand is not a moment where someone's right to say a
military recruitment ad, is being threatened. Oh no sirree. Quite
the opposite---we're bombarded with that stuff. What's
threatened are the spaces and contexts where we can hear something
(oh please let us hear something) that provides an alternative to what's
going on constantly.

I've found the 'let's have ALL voices of the community heard' argument,
generally the position used to defend the status quo, and is almost always
accompanied by the sister opinion, 'let's not get too extreme'. So an
Army recruitment PSA will be defended by the 'let's hear all the voices of
the community..', and a PSA such as Paul writes, will be rejected as 'too
extreme'.

If Jason were older, he would have read the correspondence that flurried
around initial publications of MS magazine and other feminist
publications, where the same argument Jason uses, was used by people who
felt the magazine should represent 'all aspects and opinions of women's
life', and thus include articles about movie stars and beauty regimes
and diets and how to have the best sex life.  That argument was squelched
very quickly, as we women desperately wanted alternatives, wanted
publications that took a stand AGAINST, that made and guarded a space for
alternatives to the status quo.

Jason, it's the value of the arguments you're using that I'm questioning,
not your value, not Weft's. I'm an old respecter of your persistence with WEFT.

AND I see alternatives to the status quo shrinking, and the status quo growing.
The media situation we're in is unprecedented, in terms of the tightening and
shrinking of the language produced. The language of George Bush is in the
mouths of 2 year olds, of workers supporting tax cuts for the rich, of
poor teenagers who think they'll get ahead by joining the Army..

I turn to Weft for its implicit rejection of that language, that world
view.

 Thu, 21 Aug 2003, Paul King wrote:

> how's this for a psa?...
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> American soldiers have recently participated in the massacre of 6,000
> soldiers from a third world country who were conscripted into service,
> most against their will.  They fought for their country because they would
> be shot if they refused.  Our soldiers have also valiantly killed more
> than 5,000 civilians while trying to stay alive in this conflict.
>
> We are now a country that invades and occupies others for profit. We are
> in violation of the Geneva convention and Articles 51 and 39 of the United
> Nations Charter. Various lawsuits have been filed against the United
> States in the International Criminal Court, a tribunal that tries cases of
> war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
>
> The next time you hear or see a recruitment advertisement for the United
> States military, ask yourself this: do you want to be a criminal?
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> feel free to correct statistics, add information or edit in any other
> way.
>
> i'm going to go have a beer now.
>
> ..::paul
>
>
>
> "The tyranny of the ignoramuses is insurmountable and assured for all
> time." Albert Einstein
>
> On Thu, 21 Aug 2003, Ricky Baldwin wrote:
>
> > I think Doug's suggestion is a good one.  If anyone
> > else wants to work on it, I would try to help.
> >
> > I also want to point out, however, that we had a
> > helluva time getting a PSA on the Palestinian Truth
> > Tour through the "diversity" of our "community" at
> > WEFT.  I am a big fan, and a supporter, of WEFT, but
> > there are shortcomings, as with anything.
> >
> > I didn't hear the PSA in question, but I think it
> > deserves scrutiny to see if it really holds up under
> > the guidelines.
> >
> > Ricky
> >
> > --- Paul King <pmking at students.uiuc.edu> wrote:
> > > On Thu, 21 Aug 2003, Randall Cotton wrote:
> > >
> > > > See my response below...
> > > >
> > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > From: <jpitzl at wildhunt.org>
> > > > To: "Randall Cotton" <recotton at earthlink.net>;
> > > > <wefta at lists.cu.groogroo.com>;
> > > <peace-discuss at lists.cu.groogroo.com>;
> > > > "Kranich, Kimberlie" <Kranich at WILL.uiuc.edu>;
> > > <programming at weftfm.org>;
> > > > "Sandra Ahten" <spiritofsandra at hotmail.com>
> > > > Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2003 5:21 PM
> > > > Subject: Re: [Wefta] military recruitment on WEFT
> > > (!)
> > > >
> > > > [some text deleted]
> > > >
> > > > > While it may upset you that a airshifter chose
> > > to play a military PSA, I
> > > > > wouldn't want to volunteer at a *community*
> > > station that didn't make all
> > > > > PSAs sent to us available to the airshifter on
> > > duty.
> > > >
> > > > asking if others agree, and questioning whether
> > > the
> > > > U.S. military recruitment spot in question
> > > qualifies as a PSA.
> > >
> > > i also find military recruitment advertisements
> > > revolting, particularly
> > > when they are read on WEFT and especially if they
> > > are read on WEFT during
> > > Democracy Now!. it is offensive and disgusting.
> > >
> > > however, jason's caution about allowing a diversity
> > > of opinions is
> > > extremely important. so my question is this: what
> > > exactly is a PSA? i find
> > > it impossible to believe that an "announcement"
> > > (read: advertisement in
> > > the most debased form of the word) of current
> > > military recruitment efforts
> > > is a public service.
> > >
> > > (oh yeah, i paid for my undergraduate degree with
> > > the college fund and
> > > g.i. bill after spending four years in the army. i
> > > would never
> > > characterize my military duties and activities, nor
> > > the college money
> > > bribe i received later, as a public service.)
> > >
> > > i think we all need to know what the definition of a
> > > "psa" is exactly.
> > >
> > > ..::paul
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > >
> > http://lists.cu.groogroo.com/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> > >
> >
> >
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