[Peace-discuss] [OccupyCU] this Saturday's Occupy The Air

[C. G. Estabrook]

Those not familiar with WEFT may find Stan's note peculiar, but - from my more than twenty-year association with this "alternative" radio station - I'm afraid it's all too typical of its rather shaky commitment to free speech.

WEFT has a quite shameful history of censoring, banning, excluding, and attempting to silence individuals, and even programs (including Democracy Now).

The remarkable thing is that this failing is not limited to WEFT and a few people associated with it: the alternative radio movement in the US has shown numerous (and recently increasing) examples of such censorship, for more than two generations. Look into the history of flagship stations like KPFA and WBAI, the Pacifica foundation, etc.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. Why do self-proclaimed liberals become so remarkably illiberal? An adequate answer would require an interesting investigation of psychology and politics; the themes of Chris Hedges' recent "Death of the Liberal Class" (and his follow-up articles) are surely involved.

In the meantime, it's clear that it's contradictory to the spirit of the Occupy movement to put up with such pettifoggery. If you don't believe in free speech for views you despise, you don't believe in it at all. --CGE


On Nov 12, 2012, at 9:12 PM, Stan Waggoner <swag901 at ymail.com> wrote:

> OK, I am speaking for myself here, but Carl is not welcome at WEFT, in my opinion.  Carl has used his time on WEFT to tell people NOT to support our pledge drives. 
>  
> I would hope that no one at WEFT would allow him to be a show host, or even a co-host, as he has shown himself not to be a contributing part of our community.
>  
> Further, he continues to try to find a back door to WEFT.  At one time I reached out to Carl, as PC Chair, to bring him back to our community, but he would not guarantee not to tell people not to support our pledge drives.  He refused that under his free speech rights.  I am done with Carl, and hope he enjoys his program, but stays away from WEFT.
>  
> Thanks,
>  
> Stan Waggoner
> aka Reasonable Man Stan