In A Small Canadian Town, The Only Radio Station Has A Diatribe Against the U.S.
Written from Prince George, British Columbia--
I listened to quite a bit of Canadian radio today, Monday, June 27, as I drove from Whistler to Prince George, about 400 miles. Every town has a sign at its entrance listing the local radio stations, so it's easy to find them on the car radio and listen in.
The Canadian Broadcasting System is comprehensive, with lengthier newscasts than network news in Los Angeles, and, so far as I could tell today, it seems fair, with a balanced world report.
But in the small town of Lillooet, on the mountain road about 80 miles east of Whistler, the station was one of what was billed as the 350 Pacifica stations in North America, and I listened for almost an hour, until the station faded away, to a diatribe against the United States from what was billed as a "War Crimes Tribunal" in Istanbul.
Speaker after speaker assailed America for its tactics in the War On Terror, without ever mentioning the Muslim extremists, suicide bombers, beheadings, the attack on the World Trade Center or any of the other things we've been fighting.
It was the opposite of an experience I once had while visiting Kingman, Arizona. There, the radio station broadcast a long expose of what was said to be a Soviet armed invasion of the United States under the auspices of the United Nations.
It is mind-boggling to hear that in both communities, the residents are being subjected to such extreme views, left or right, without any rebuttal on that same station.
Frankly, I don't listen to Pacifica radio and have no way of knowing how many stations they actually havw. A number of 350 sounds high, but I suppose is possible.
The chair of the War Crimes Tribunal was an Indian novelist of some note named Arundhati Roy, the author of a novel some years back called "The God of Small Things." I read it while visiting India. The author has become more and more extreme, but she outdid herself on the broadcast today, saying she wished to take up arms against the U.S. She spoke in a calm voice, but her conclusions were extreme, and blamed everything wrong in the world on us.
I wonder when I listen to such people whether there is any action that could be taken against us that would not suit them. They also called their program "Democracy Now," but their idea of democracy is to support the terrorists worldwide.
I have a different view, as readers of this blog know. I think the Muslim extremists and their supporters are Fascists, a throwback to the Nazies. But now, the threat worldwide may be even greater, because of the distinct possibility they will obtain nuclear, biological or chemical weapons in the years ahead and use them to kill millions of Americans, Europeans, Israelis and others.
This is not a fanciful notion, I'm sure. And while honest pe0ple can quarrel about our own tactics, there is no way any rational person can blame all the world's problems on the U.S. and/or the Bush Administration.
When I listened to Lillooet's sole station today, I felt sorry for the people who live in that community, being propagandized by hatemongers who have the nerve to call themselves the "Pacifica" station.
I listened to quite a bit of Canadian radio today, Monday, June 27, as I drove from Whistler to Prince George, about 400 miles. Every town has a sign at its entrance listing the local radio stations, so it's easy to find them on the car radio and listen in.
The Canadian Broadcasting System is comprehensive, with lengthier newscasts than network news in Los Angeles, and, so far as I could tell today, it seems fair, with a balanced world report.
But in the small town of Lillooet, on the mountain road about 80 miles east of Whistler, the station was one of what was billed as the 350 Pacifica stations in North America, and I listened for almost an hour, until the station faded away, to a diatribe against the United States from what was billed as a "War Crimes Tribunal" in Istanbul.
Speaker after speaker assailed America for its tactics in the War On Terror, without ever mentioning the Muslim extremists, suicide bombers, beheadings, the attack on the World Trade Center or any of the other things we've been fighting.
It was the opposite of an experience I once had while visiting Kingman, Arizona. There, the radio station broadcast a long expose of what was said to be a Soviet armed invasion of the United States under the auspices of the United Nations.
It is mind-boggling to hear that in both communities, the residents are being subjected to such extreme views, left or right, without any rebuttal on that same station.
Frankly, I don't listen to Pacifica radio and have no way of knowing how many stations they actually havw. A number of 350 sounds high, but I suppose is possible.
The chair of the War Crimes Tribunal was an Indian novelist of some note named Arundhati Roy, the author of a novel some years back called "The God of Small Things." I read it while visiting India. The author has become more and more extreme, but she outdid herself on the broadcast today, saying she wished to take up arms against the U.S. She spoke in a calm voice, but her conclusions were extreme, and blamed everything wrong in the world on us.
I wonder when I listen to such people whether there is any action that could be taken against us that would not suit them. They also called their program "Democracy Now," but their idea of democracy is to support the terrorists worldwide.
I have a different view, as readers of this blog know. I think the Muslim extremists and their supporters are Fascists, a throwback to the Nazies. But now, the threat worldwide may be even greater, because of the distinct possibility they will obtain nuclear, biological or chemical weapons in the years ahead and use them to kill millions of Americans, Europeans, Israelis and others.
This is not a fanciful notion, I'm sure. And while honest pe0ple can quarrel about our own tactics, there is no way any rational person can blame all the world's problems on the U.S. and/or the Bush Administration.
When I listened to Lillooet's sole station today, I felt sorry for the people who live in that community, being propagandized by hatemongers who have the nerve to call themselves the "Pacifica" station.
posted by Ken Reich at 7:51 PM
2 Comments:
How does your realist viewpoint, as far as muslim extremists=fascists, measure up with the worldview of your former peers at the paper? Seems to be quite a contradiction. I applaud you.
I know I'm jumping in here kind of late but I just wanted you to know that I worked for CHLS 100.5 radio for quite sometime. In the early days because we had very few DJ's and limited time at the Lillooet High School we would put "fill ins" on at the station. A lot of times what was put on the station depended on who the last DJ was...you could have easily been listening to my pre-recorded country & western CD's with me announcing our call letters. Our radio station has a lot of different styles (and still does) and what you listened to was just a small portion, not necessary an everyday thing.
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