W5HTW
01-16-2009, 01:03 AM
The below is a quote from a novel by Lawrence Block. The book is called "Hit List."
Quote:
"In the current issue of Linn's, as in qlmost every issue, there was a spirited exchange in the letters column on the best way to attract youngersters to the hobby. Evidently boys and girls were less strongly drawn to philately in a world full of computers and Nintendo and MTV. If kids stopped collecting stamps, where would the next generation of adult collectors come from?
"Keller, having considered the question, had decided that he didn't care. All he wanted to do was add to his own collection, and he didn't really give a damn how many other men and women were working on theirs. Without new collectors joining the fold, stamps might eventually decline in value, but he didn't care about that, either. He was going to sell his collection, and what difference did it make what became of it upon his death? If he couldn't take it with him, then somebody else could figure out what to do with it."
End quote.
Could this be? Keller, in this case, is a fictional character, created by Mr. Block. Yet if we substitute the words amateur radio for philately, I at least see a remarkable similiaritly, not only to the youth we think we so desperately need in ham radio, but to the attitudes of those, like myself, who believe had radio has survived so long by being a niche hobby, not a broadband mass appeal activity.
What it shows is that someone not associated with amateur radio has discovered the same attitudes in another hobby, and has verbalized them in the attitude of a fictional character who has never heard of ham radio.
It is my belief, if we had left amateur radio as a quasi-technical hobby, limited to those with real interest in it, instead of trying to make sure everyone everywhere gets a ham license. In doing so, we have diluted the hobby beyond the point of no return, and the spirit of amateur radio has been, again in my opinion, lost.
Ed
Quote:
"In the current issue of Linn's, as in qlmost every issue, there was a spirited exchange in the letters column on the best way to attract youngersters to the hobby. Evidently boys and girls were less strongly drawn to philately in a world full of computers and Nintendo and MTV. If kids stopped collecting stamps, where would the next generation of adult collectors come from?
"Keller, having considered the question, had decided that he didn't care. All he wanted to do was add to his own collection, and he didn't really give a damn how many other men and women were working on theirs. Without new collectors joining the fold, stamps might eventually decline in value, but he didn't care about that, either. He was going to sell his collection, and what difference did it make what became of it upon his death? If he couldn't take it with him, then somebody else could figure out what to do with it."
End quote.
Could this be? Keller, in this case, is a fictional character, created by Mr. Block. Yet if we substitute the words amateur radio for philately, I at least see a remarkable similiaritly, not only to the youth we think we so desperately need in ham radio, but to the attitudes of those, like myself, who believe had radio has survived so long by being a niche hobby, not a broadband mass appeal activity.
What it shows is that someone not associated with amateur radio has discovered the same attitudes in another hobby, and has verbalized them in the attitude of a fictional character who has never heard of ham radio.
It is my belief, if we had left amateur radio as a quasi-technical hobby, limited to those with real interest in it, instead of trying to make sure everyone everywhere gets a ham license. In doing so, we have diluted the hobby beyond the point of no return, and the spirit of amateur radio has been, again in my opinion, lost.
Ed