[Peace-discuss] Re: [Wefta] military recruitment on WEFT (!)

[John Wason]

At 10:36 AM 08/22/03 -0700, joyce wiehagen wrote:

>...and from the far, far corner comes the small tinkle of my two cents.
Other than subbing shows now and then and serving on the PC Committee for a
while, I'm not extremely involved in WEFT.  As a sort-of outsider, then, I
must say I don't understand the extensive rantings about censorship &c.,
when the basic fact that was questioned and needs to be addressed is
whether or not the Military "PSA" was/is acceptable within WEFT PSA
guidelines. It is a blatant call to action, which is clearly on the list of
what WEFT PSAs should not be. It seems pretty simple, actually, no? Whether
or not the PSA disgusted this or that person, which got someone else's
panties in a pinch, is not the issue.  That said, it's nice to behold the
passion and concern people obviously have for WEFT. 
>
>Sincerely, 
>
>Joyce Wiehagen

Before I forget it - Joyce, you write WONDERFUL human interest articles for
the WEFT Revue!  I hope to see more of them in the future.  You're an
excellent journalist.

Now....Yes, I think this whole thing has been a fascinating discussion,
without becoming too terribly rancorous for the most part.  There are many
lessons that can be derived from the incident and the ensuing discussion.
Especially pertinent to me are:

1) The distinction Al Kagan made between censorship and "appropriate
collection development" - though I'm not certain how that could be applied
in a perfectly objective way at WEFT, given the diversity of viewpoints and
the volunteer nature of our activities, including the selection of PSA's.

2) The point John Coleman made about exercising discretion or wisdom in the
reading of PSA's.  In other words, considering our listening audience when
we decide which PSA's to read.

3) Ed Mandel's plea for tolerance of other people's points of view, even
though we may disagree with them.

I'm very sorry to learn that the Palestinian Truth Tour PSA somehow fell
through the cracks, apparently back before I was a WEFTie (not that I could
have prevented it).  I'm also sorry that the Marine PSA was read during
Democracy Now, but less so because it led to this fascinating discussion.
I'm grateful to Randall Cotton for bringing it to our attention, and for
going to the trouble of transcribing the language on the CD.  Whle I agree
with Mark Bee that the entire incident could perhaps have been handled more
discretely, I don't think this discussion on the WEFT-A list has been an
altogether bad thing.

As a WEFTie who plays a direct role in the preparation of (written) PSA's
as one of my "volunteer commitments", I know that occasionally (not often)
I prepare a PSA sent in by an organization which I find somewhat repugnant,
or about a cause or issue with which I may disagree.  But I understand the
importance of the larger issue of freedom of speech and diversity of
opinion in a community radio station (and indeed in a community), and I go
ahead and prepare the PSA.  I may not choose to read that particular one on
my show, but it's available for any other airshifter who cares to read it.
I think most of us - at WEFT and those participating in this discussion -
agree on that basic principle.

With regard to the definition of a "call to action", the animated
discussion that ensued among about six of us at WEFT following the incident
in question, involving all sorts of grammatical nuances, convinced me that
we will never arrive at a perfect consensus on what constitutes a "call to
action" and what does not.  But there is a process - a facet of which we
are partaking in right now - by means of which I am confident that the most
egregious examples of inappropriate PSA's will be taken care of.

So thanks to all who have so far participated in this scintillating
discussion.  If we pursue it further, let's continue to try to avoid
finger-pointing and name-calling as we have largely done so far, and remain
sensitive to all the factors that go into making WEFT the wonderful
community institution that it is.

$0.02,

John Wason