Decline To State

In the last few months I’ve been getting some “nibbles” from different radio stations.  One of them I would even call a “bite”.  The problem that seems to always pop up is that I have never liked defining myself.  Back in the day it was easy.  I was the “B.S. Detector” at a totally obvious tech news station.  So, now that there is no “Tech Station” in existence I’m free to do the same kind of show without the tech constraints.

This whole process, to me, just points out what’s really wrong with radio, and media in general.  Everyone demands that you label yourself.  Am I a Conservative, a Liberal, Left Wing, Right Wing?  They really want to know if the conversation is to go forward.

The problem is that labels are so counter-productive, especially when the labels mean such different things to different people.   For instance, there are conservatives who aren’t fundamentalists and there are some who are.  Most people do or do not make the distinction depending on how they want to manipulate the listener.  The same thing goes for liberals, greens, etc.  They’re all just imperfect labels people use to describe each other and they are more often abused then embraced.

I decline to state.  My views are my own.  Others may agree and groups may subscribe, but my ideals were not supplied by any establishment other than my own experience.  If I’m going to be labeled, I’d rather that words like “realistic”, “pragmatic”, and maybe even “objective” come to mind.

The problem is that there’s also no such thing as  “The Objective Station, Where People Think For Themselves”