Well, I got out alive from WBAI Pacifica wkthout
anyone apparently minding (or, more probably, just knowing) that I am an
agent of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.
Actually, I always fall into Stockholm Syndrome at these places. (I’ve been
to a few, including one in Boulder, Colorado that was practically PAVED with
granola–I actually saw my interviewer ride in on a mountain bike.) I end
up liking the people. This proves yet again that I make a lousy ideologue.
Harry Allen, who does the WBAI “Nonfiction” show on Friday afternoons, is a
great guy–thoroughly well prepared, keenly interested in the subject he’s
presenting, and not at all intent on pushing the talk in the direction of
any particular agenda. The segment before my talk was about the history of
flight, and it was really interesting. One of the speakers blamed the
decline of the U.S. small-plane industry on out-of-control trial lawyers, in
a passage that would not have been out of place in a National Review
editorial. When we got on to prime numbers, Harry knew just what to say,
and asked all the right questions. A happy and convivial experience.
I doubt there is a single person in the whole WBAI operation that votes
Republican, but I wish them all well, anyway. And they need good wishes:
they’re having financial troubles. Good luck, thanks, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
to Harry and all the folks at WBAI.