----------------------------Original message---------------------------- VOX POPULI : Adding something to my earlier posting about calling PBS and registering your opinions Re: its privatization (i.e. annihilation) as per Newton Gingrich. Call 1-800-CPB-2190 ========================Additional comments=================================. > >1) I have not seen on the net any responses yet,not necessarily to my own >message, but to the general theme, the attempt to do grievous harm to the >Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is a national treasure. >This disturbs me.Is there apathy or am I missing something? I do hope that >reactions will start coming in, participatory democracy at work. > >2) Some comments made to me personally indicated that opponents of PBS >criticize it for being elitist and for having a liberal bias. Never mind >that "elitist" and "liberal" are certainly not four-letter words in my >vocabulary. Even if they are considered such by others, I cannot, in all >objectivity, see either as applying to PBS or NPR. Look in detail at their >programs and you will be hard put to justify those criticisms. Are the >children's programs, programs on nature, science, arts, movies,etc. of the >kind that might offend even the staunchest conservatives? Are >opera,Hercule Poirot or Inspector Morse, Lawrence Welk, Mitch Miller,the >McNeil-Lehrer report, gardening, ballet,"Mystery!," The Frugal Gourmet, >painting, sewing,Carmen Sandiego, This Old House, sports, Sesame Street, >Jeeves and Wooster, travel, Sneak Previews, Newton's Apple,Baseball, the >Civil War, and on and on, subversively poisoning the American mind? >Or is it that some programs include history that features too many blacks >(African-Americans) to some critics' taste? Or deal with poverty? Or >racial justice ("I'll Fly Away")? Just trying to guess. I am totally >baffled. > >3) I caught, this am, on C-Span, some of the CPB hearings.Do try to have a >look at them. It's an education. > >4) The un/de/funding of NPR (radio) is another mystery.Our local station >transmits on AM and FM. AM has news,talk,wonderful local programs,BBC >News, Canada-originating news,Sunday programs done by kids international >programs. Nothing a conservative might hear should rile him/her. FM has >loads of classical music as well as other types. Is Mozart elitist? Is >Glenn Miller liberal? >5) On the crowded radio dial, here we can hardly get any other classical >music (or classical Big Band, or classical New Orleans, etc.) music, >except, rarely, if we can get another PBS station. > >6) Yes, there is a strong cultural side to the CPB. Is culture bad for >America? Does America have so much culture that it is a waste of time >puttingmore of it on the air? Should America watch only Hard Copy and the >like? > >7) I have the strong impression (no figures) that the people who work >bringing us PBS and NPR are paid modestly or little by ordinary standards. >We get a lot of bang for our buck, and we get the unpaid services of many >many many volunteers too. > >8) Even if we're talking about small cuts to CPB budgets,the economic >argument is as hypocritical as any I have heard in my lifetime. First, the >governmental support of CPB amounts to a tiny (repeat and >shout,TINY)figure compared to others, not to mention the obscenely >inflated pork-barrels. Second, when some opponents adopt a >holier-than-thou attitude and state that this money would lessen what >social services and other programs would get, it is so blatantly a lie, so >false, so deceitful, so outrageous that you wonder how elected >representatives and others can stoop. > >Random, disorganized thoughts --from the brain as well as from the heart. >And the eye and the ear. >