[WIham] Wis. State Journal 11/14/03: Broadcast of porn tipped police in emergency channels case

[wiham@mailman.qth.net]

I am not 100% sure as to what you are getting at in your e-mail, so if I 
get it wrong I am sure you will let me know.  The instances you speak of 
are truly exceptions.  I know plenty of hams and know of no one who "could 
understand" the actions of Tim McVeigh.  Many of these could be considered 
"ultra-right-wing," since listening to talk radio nowadays seems to give 
you that label.  Not everyone who claims to be part of a particular group 
can adequately represent that groups' "ideal."  How many times have we all 
keyed a repeater, to see if we were in range, without identifying?  Or how 
many times have we used more power than necessary to complete a 
communication?  Neither will get your license taken away, but are they good 
practice?  Such operations are exceptions to the rule and we cannot assume 
that all hams are poor operators.  Similarly, one person's comment or porn 
(which shouldn't be at a hamfest in the first place) being sold by someone 
"with dozens of right-wing bumpersticks on their vehicles" doesn't mean 
that all conservatives, or, indeed, the vast majority, support such views 
or actions.  The man who broadcast pornography and maliciously interfered 
on the public service frequencies broke laws and in no way represents the 
rest of us amateur operators, but he gives us a bad name.  As to the 
ideological overtone of some of the comments appearing on this list, we are 
all allowed to express our opinions in our own way.  As long as we follow 
the rules set forth by the moderator of this listserv, we are exercising 
our freedoms and have every right to say what we feel.  And we should all 
be prepared for the repercussions of our words.

AB9GW


At 06:43 PM 11/19/2003, you wrote:
>  I'm the local "Rip Van Winkle" of ham radio, having been away from the 
> hobby almost completely between 1973 and 1993. One thing that absolutely 
> (and unfortunately) hasn't changed about U.S. amateur radio is the 
> disproportionate representation of the ultra-right-wing.  And it wasn't 
> just Barry Goldwater and Curtis LeMay.  In the mid-1970s, your typical 
> ham was a crew-cut WWII vet, many of whom weren't too sure that "we 
> fought on the right side" in that particular conflict.
>
>(Yes, I know that Goldwater eventually moved to a more libertarian politics.)
>
>A few days after Tim McVeigh blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City 
>(when the images of dead toddlers being pulled from the rubble was still 
>fresh in our minds), I attended a ham club meeting in southeastern 
>Wisconsin.  One of the participants made some comment to the effect that 
>he "could understand" why someone would do that.  Totally revolting.
>
>In the years since then, I've often found people selling porn at hamfests 
>with dozens of right-wing bumpersticks on their vehicles. I usually think 
>of that when I hear a conservative talking about "traditional family values".
>
>I suspect what we're about to see on this listserv over the next few days 
>will be a an almost total waste of bandwidth.
>
>
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