Steinar Aanesland wrote: > It turned out to be a real hate network. It vomit up extremely bad > things about the Obama administration. I am not going into the politics > here, but is this type of network allowed in US on the HAM band ???
There is a widely held misconception about what is, and is not, allowed to be discussed on air. There is always the good sense point of view that certain topics will be likely to stir up bad feeling and argument and are, therefore, best avoided in the interests of good manners and avoiding embarrassment. However, legally it is usually the case that politics, religion and sex, for example, are not actually banned as subjects for discussion. That said, from the reports of the group in question, you have to say that a) they are talking to other people who hold their views and are unlikely to welcome any constructively opposing views and b) once you know their callsigns you can avoid having anything to do with them, so it's going to be a self inclusive group that is going to show its prejudice to anyone that listens for a while. A long time ago I stopped arguing with people with whom I was unlikely to persuade of my argument, or who I wasn't likely to ever be convinced of their point of view, as just being a waste of time on both sides. I suspect that groups such as those mentioned fall into this general category and I would also include groups who hold similarly extreme points of view on the other side of the political argument as well... A good case in point was a colleague of mine, who was espousing his own political point of view about how he thought people should vote in the UK the other day. In conversation over a pint or two I gave him my point of view, which he didn't accept, but I guess we agreed to differ and left it at that. Maybe that sort of conversation might be 'OK' on air, but I wouldn't want to have it because personally I don't think the Amateur Bands are the place to have conversations that you have in the Pub. But that's just my point of view. HI. Dave (G0DJA)
