[CW] OT: Heartbreaking VOA Sterba Curtain Destruction

Mon Apr 11 10:59:58 EDT 2016

Hans, I can understand your perception, but remember there are others who see different things. My time spent overseas, in numerous countries, indeed did show a reason and need for the short wave services, of not only the VOA, but the BBC, Radio Germany etc. etc. These services gave a different perspective of news events, than what was available (if at all) from local radio, and later TV stations. Look at Cuba today. The opening of relations, and what the reporters are saying- and see the music they residents are recognizing (and the singing groups of the 60s). They know them, and only because they heard them on foreign radio stations. The Sudan would be another such location, as would most of Ethiopia, Libya, Algeria (all locations I have been). I met and talked with students who "knew" America from only one source- the VOA. They spoke English fairly well - again, thanks to VOA and BBC. So there was, and is still, a need for our voice to be out there. There are still many peoples without power, or maybe just local generators a few hours a day. No TV, no local radio, etc. who do sit around the listen to foreign short wave broadcasts. These stations did not harm our country, in the eyes of the poor. And it helped educate them in the ways of the west. So, I still say it was a poor decision to delete so many hours and services. We certainly gained more from it, than sitting a few diplomats in embassies and handing out brochures. 

----- Original Message -----

From: eagletracker at reagan.com 
To: "CW Reflector" <cw at mailman.qth.net> 
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2016 10:30:19 AM 
Subject: Re: [CW] OT: Heartbreaking VOA Sterba Curtain Destruction 

"American World Citizen"???>>Screw your damn Satanic Globalism!!!! 

On Saturday, April 9, 2016 16:25, "Radio K0HB" <kzerohb at gmail.com> said: 

I don't accept the notion that the USA has withdrawn from presenting ideas, nor that our culture is in need of redemption. 

The idea that oppressed people far away are huddled around a clandestine radio with the curtains drawn against observation, listening for news from America, is no longer valid (if it ever was). The towers at VOA had no more audience. 

My father emigrated from Russia as a child with my grandparents, grew up on a 80 acre farm, married, worked that same crappy 80 acres and raised a big family, died young (57). Four of his sons spent a collective 56 years in uniform, most of it induced by mandatory conscription, otherwise known as "the draft". I wasn't a professional Sailor, but I played around at it for 21 years, and a did good enough job to earn the rank of Master Chief Radioman (E9). Got me off that crappy rocky farm. 

Now I'm an old man, and my great-grand-kids (yes, I have 4 of those)live in a culture so rich and advanced that my grandfather growing up could not have imagined it even in his grandest dreams. 

My grandkids distant cousins in Russia can communicate instantly with their counterparts here via handheld devices that would seem magic to even my father and mother. The need for a national propaganda engine like the VOA has faded, as American ideas and German ideas and Chinese ideas and Bolivian ideas and Micronesian ideas flow across cultures, not from government propaganda offices, but from the personal experiences of free citizens sharing their real-life dreams, triumphs, and yes, disappointments and setbacks. 

Sincerely, 

H Hans Brakob 
American 
World Citizen 

On Sat, Apr 9, 2016 at 10:15 Michael Zolno < luv.myipad3 at me.com > wrote: 

Very true; I don't think anyone here would argue that point. All of us are moving to a state of entropy. At least the materials can be reused in this case. 

My take was more of how I mourn the reasons behind VOA's (and ostensively America's) withdrawal from presenting the ideas and concepts that made us both good and great. Dropping these towers/antennas are but a symbol. If there were ever a time when the world needed a standard bearer, one only needs to look at how much the various nefarious forces have grown; now would be a good time. I can't speak to how we have gone about that in the last few decades because I have been a part (albeit a small part) as a professional soldier. So I long for some renewal and possibly some redemption, unfortunately do not see these returning anytime soon. I cannot fathom how those here whom are older than me (49 shortly) experienced the change of our complete culture. 

Completely agree with your statement though. 

Sent from my iPad 

> On Apr 9, 2016, at 12:13 PM, Radio K0HB < kzerohb at gmail.com > wrote: 
> 
> Old worn our cars are recycled, old worn out ships are scrapped and recycled, old useless radio towers are scrapped and recycled. 
> 
> I can't find any heartbreak in that. 
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