- Capitalism and Alternatives -

clearly lost sight of principled dissent

In Reply to: Free Speech for Me-But Not for Thee posted by ginger on August 25, 1997 at 19:17:11:

Alas, too true.... I'm currently involved in a community
radio station that is once again leaning heavily towards
censoring dissent regarding internal affairs from any
on-air discussion. Of course the irony here is that as a community station we stand very strongly for free speach,
In our public affairs and news production, we are quite radical, ever pushing the envelope of acceptable debate.
Recently, a board member decided to use some of his program to sharply critique (?)/ personally attack (?) a couple of the station's paid staff. Where that line gets drawn is pretty damned fuzzy. To make a bad situation worse, the rest of the board decided to "remedy" the situation by directing him to not comment on the air about station policy again. I am loathe to admit it but I was a part of that decision. I argued in favor of this ill-conceived directive as I perceived he was falling more and more on the side of attacking the staff, while the important philosophical issues that need discussion
were getting utterly lost in the fight. Since that decison 3 weeks ago, the board has decided to re-examine the need and desirability of a gag-order on any programmer.

So the question I'm left with is this... how do we respond to someone who has clearly lost sight of principled dissent and the goal of making one of the most important alternative mediums in the area strong, and now insists in engaging in mean spirited, one-sided diatribes on the air. Is it ever appropriate to tell a comrade to "cease and desist"??

The one thing that is clear to me is tha telling a person to shut-up does nothing to address the underlying issues and in fact can only set a precedent that is more dangerous than any one person's rants could ever be.....
Here's hoping wisdom strikes us soon.....

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