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Robert
Dean
Candidate Statement
Robert Dean
purple@tellurian.com
I agree with many statements and practical proposals made
by other candidates posted already on this site but I want
to give you the general context, as I see it, that will
guide my thinking if elected. It goes like this:
If WBAI wants to attract new listeners, then it must
broaden its appeal. It would have to include
"politically incorrect" programming to really
accomplish this. Am I wrong to conclude this is not likely?
If so, then we are back to square one and WBAI cannot adapt
to the new realities. It would remain true to what it
represented in the past. But the past doesn't offer a
challenge to perception and awareness. Only the
uncategorizable "new" does. And that will always
be provided only by new devices and their ensuing
environments. So WBAI can only be a Noah's Ark for
countercultural and subcultural effects from previous media.
And this is perhaps enough for most WBAI listeners.
"Past times become pastimes".
But there are new, idealistic adolescents arriving on the
social activist stage every day. What are we to say to them?
"Honor our efforts. Pay your respects." This is
not enough when their sense of urgency is so intense,
especially in these apocalyptic and dangerous times. I've
noticed that these more innocent enthusiasts don't have
national, racial, or sexual differences clouding their
visions. They are instinctively denizens of a tiny planet.
Why even speak to them in the categories of any verbal
language, let alone English? They live a simulation of ESP.
One just has to check out the Matrix movies to feel the
pulse. So, a slow, verbal medium like WBAI looks to them
like a sick, old turtle. Now, over the next couple of years,
as they confront older technological environments that are
too unwieldy to be removed or bypassed, they will be forced
to check their ESP for older forms like speech. At that
point WBAI may appear relevant - a kind of lithium, to
buffer their "shock of the old". It is then the
opportunity will be presented where we can recruit them in
the campaign for universal, progressive revolutions that
have their roots in long, important struggles from our past.
Only then will the WBAI museum become a successful political
force.
It is this dilemma presented above that will always
influence any suggestions I would make in any advisory
capacity I am assigned if elected to the new board.
Robert Dean |
