Home > The Creeping Hand of Socialism
By David Glenn Cox
http://theservantsofpilate.com
When we have all been thoroughly indoctrinated in truth, justice and the American way, the very word socialism evokes flickering black and white images of Winston Smith. His empty, loveless life controlled by the stern-faced Big Brother. Or we hear the clicking sounds of jackbooted policemen, and even worse, of the secret policemen.
Who told you these things? Who put these images before your eyes? Why, the very people who benefit from capitalism. We look through a view master at fairy tales of capitalism, stereo images of happy populations dancing and singing in front of their slave cabins at sundown while pictures of the ill, the dispossessed and the unemployed are pushed back to page six below the fold. Those stories are too depressing, after all, and it was probably their own fault they ended up that way.
The free-for-profit press tells us horror stories of socialized medicine’s waiting lists, but forgets to mention that when a patient dies under socialized medicine, the doctors give their condolences. Under our for-profit medical system, the doctors pass on their condolences along with in many cases a six-figure bill. We praise our system and bury its mistakes and pay no mind that medical bills are the number one reason for bankruptcy here in this capitalist utopia.
We forget, or fail to notice, that socialism is all around us. Our military is one giant socialist organization. Centralized planning by one central authority, collective living, collective clothing. Medals and ribbons issued to commemorate service to the state. We cheer and wave the flag for our freedom, unaware of undercover policemen or the labyrinth of security cameras watching us at intersections and in every parking lot. Ah, but that’s for your protection. But then, when isn’t it?
Here in Atlanta we have an enclave of socialists, a community radio station; not a public station but a community station. It doesn’t belong to the public but to the community. Financed by the listeners along with a grant from the Atlanta arts council, WRFG broadcasts 24 hours a day, not to please stockholders or program managers but its community. Their slogan is "The right place to be on the left-hand side of your dial."
Very quickly you can hear the difference; you can feel the difference. No one is shouting at you. No one is trying to sell you a car muffler or playing annoying jingles over and over about cell phone plans. Unlike the sterile dryness of many NPR stations, you can feel the warmth. The air shifters, as they choose to call themselves, are volunteers, getting up at 3:30 AM to do a drive-time program, and then it’s off to their day job.
But to only look at the diversity of the music without the standard forty-song play lists is to misunderstand all that can be done with a radio station detached from the capitalist system. Since going on the air in 1973, WRFG has featured live musical performances of jazz, bluegrass and blues. As Atlanta has grown WRFG has reached out to new communities, African, Latin, Asian and Caribbean, as well as to the communities which are under-represented on commercial radio, labor and alternative life styles. It is all a part of their mission.
1. Those who continue to be denied free and open access to the broadcast media,
2. Those who suffer oppression or exploitation based upon class, race, sex, age or creed or sexual orientation.
Why would anyone be under-represented in our free press media? Oh yeah, right, because they’re either politically unpopular or their views are. WRFG has broadcasts of live speakers from the Hungry Club, Atlanta’s famous interracial forum. WRFG has received national acclaim for its public affairs programming. In 2007 WRFG was awarded the W.C. Handy Keeping the Blues Alive Award for its 20 hours of blues programming every week.
Recently the long-time air shifter and producer, Joe Shifalo, aka Pig Iron, retired. Not just a paper-shuffler disk jockey, Pig Iron told stories of a young Bob Dylan sleeping on his couch in the Village, or of the time the record company paid him to fly out to California to teach the Eagles how to finger pick guitars. You just don’t get that on commercial radio.
Just as you don’t get live interviews with John Mayall, Gary Moore, Leo Lyons, or live performances by Fiona Boise, Dave Sutherland and the best of Atlanta’s local music talent. This goes against all the stereotypes, but blues musicians will rise early in the morning to play live, and not just play but astound. They do it not for the money but for the community.
Then suddenly you find yourself indoctrinated; suddenly commercial, capitalist radio with its screaming, repetitive commercials becomes intolerable. You find yourself listening to the Zydeco show and tapping your feet as the thought enters your head, “Why isn’t this kind of music on commercial radio?” Because somebody doesn’t think it’s popular enough. Before you know it, you’re listening to the Celtic Show or Soul Rhapsody.
Weekly shows include Just Peace, Second Opinion, Sista’s Time and Youth Views. At five o’clock each day is Amy Goodman and “Democracy Now,” the perfect program for the commute home. In the evenings there is the Peach State Festival, featuring the best of Americana, folk, country and bluegrass. You just thought you didn’t like country music. This is the good stuff, not the top forty crap that you hear over and over again.
But as you listen you begin to ask yourself, what is it that makes commercial radio so awful and WRFG so good? The answer is capitalism, it’s the profit motive that forces program directors to pare down play lists to please the most and offend the least. Until all that is left is a homogenized, vanilla mess of nothing. No flavor, no excitement, just noise.
Without the profit motive to drive a station, you have room for passion for the music; a love of the music and the human desire to share that love. It can offer a diversity of tastes that drives new interests and builds new understandings.
They have Blues Fests where the community brings food for all, covered-dish suppers, and Zydeco dances with free dance lessons if you get there an hour early. They want you to participate; they want you to be a part of their community. Not because they want your money but just because they want to share what they have with you. Suddenly, while the world is turning upside down, you find you’re listening to a radio station that wants to give to you and not take from you. If this is the creeping hand of socialism, sign me up.