Ham Radio is "faintly embarrasing?"

I would be embarrsed if all I had in life was the ability to write about others so called shortcomings. I wonder what his hobbies are, nosepicking, how long he can grow his mole hair

 

To the Editor:

It is unfortunate that Lev Grossman finds amateur radio an embarrassing avocation. One can't help but wonder if he's ever tried it.

Perhaps he's embarrassed by its value in providing emergency communications right now in Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand; or following the horrible forest fires in the western US, floods and earthquakes in Alaska, or tornadoes in the South.

Maybe he's embarrassed by its enormous educational value in orienting youth toward scientific and engineering careers (as it did me). Or perhaps he's embarrassed by its use on the International Space Station to enable astronauts and cosmonauts to communicate directly with children in classrooms around the world. Or maybe it's the access to an outside world it provides shut-ins that he's ashamed of.

I wonder what Lev Grossman does with his spare time (besides making embarrassingly ignorant statements, of course...).

Bernie Skoch
Elkins, Arkansas

[“Before this year, blogs were a curiosity, a cult phenomenon, a faintly embarrassing hobby on the order of ham radio and stamp collecting. But in 2004, blogs unexpectedly vaulted into the pantheon of major media, alongside TV, radio and, yes, magazines, and it was Power Line, more than any other blog, that got them there,” writes TIME’s Lev Grossman.]

 

One thing I noticed about the letters to Time is that they are letters to Time.
Why not letters to Lev Grossman? If you can get his address (email or otherwise), send HIM a letter asking him about his comment.
I must admit to sending an email to Time since I could not find his address. I admit, also, to doing only a short search.
As such:
To Mr. Lev Grossman,
What, if I may ask, is so embarrassing about ham radio?
David Edgar
N7VRZ

 

Here is an interview with Mr. Grossman regarfding a book he wrote. http://www.harcourtbooks.com/authorinterviews/bookinterview_Grossman.asp

There is a picture of him there too.

 

[One thing I noticed about the letters to Time is that they are letters to Time. Why not letters to Lev Grossman? If you can get his address (email or otherwise), send HIM a letter asking him about his comment. ]

David,

A good point. I'm confident he'll see it in either case (direct to him or to Time), but I sent mine to Time for two reasons:

1) In the hopes that it might get published, providing a public rebuttal of his ignorant comment. (I can guarantee a direct note to him will never see the light of day).

2) To let Time in general know that there are dissenting views to his on this topic and that they ought to be more careful with their editing.

73,
Bernie K5XS

 

Ah the wonders of science! From a Ham to a Turkey in just the few strokes of a keyboard!

73,

Mike - K7OV

 

Eww, what a Gross Man!

 

[Eww, what a Gross Man!]

Maybe we shoudl just "Lev" him alone...

 

Good luck with making Time listen. I canceled the year they made Ayatollah Khomeini the man of the year - they've continued to be a collection of horses posteriors.

 

mr. G is suffering from the same misconception as a lot of the general population, what he meant to say I'm sure is c.b. radio is a fairly embarrassing hobby. A lot of people don't know the diff. it's all radio to them. Think about it.

 

I'm not sure that the Time article is actually attempting to insult amateur radio or is merely (and rather accurately) describing how most of mainstream society perceives hams.  They are two different conversations.  Look, I'm a ham myself and I'm not embarressed by our hobby.  But it's clear most non-hams think we should be.  I'm not saying we're hated.  It just that most outsiders pretty much regard us as anti-social, pocket-protector types who are harmless and even do some good works.  Sorry, but it's true.  And perhaps that stereotype has, even if in very small measure, at least some basis in reality.  The howls of protest from our ranks fit into the "methinks thou dost protest too much" category.  Perhaps some of our messages to the editor of Time should be handled with more deftness and humor, lest we appear to be the very geeks many perceive us to be.  Better still, perhaps we should work harder, as a group, to ensure our continued relevence in a high-tech world.

 

Stephen,

I think you are right (the public may perceive us as Lev Grossman appears to). And that is exactly why we should give thoughtful and respectful protest to what he wrote: To help correct that image.

If we ignore the comment, Time and its readers will think he hit the mark. We need to make sure they know otherwise.

73,
Bernie Skoch
K5XS

 

My sentiments exactly. Before ridiculing the spelling of others and asserting that he and his side of the political aisle possess intellectual superiority -- "Most liberals, I dare say, are more attuned to what is going on " -- it would behoove the writer to check his own copy for errors.

For instance, besides "noteable," I find other mistakes amid his "more attuned" comments, including "dare say" (actually, it's just one word: "daresay"), "pre-conceived" (again, one word: "preconceived") and "over zealous" (yep, one word: "overzealous").

Meanwhile, the next post from KD7KBR apparently attempts to pile on by saying, "I think it must be more embarrasing to be shouting your miss-spellings to the forum. What does that say for you and your party?"

Probably about the same thing it says for a writer whose own comments include goofs such as "miss-spellings" and "embarrasing."

Obviously, spelling errors are no stranger to either side of the political aisle. So how about more slack and fewer cheap shots?

 

What I wonder is why the few here who are so inclined to speak negatively about ham radio are hams. (I'm thinking W1NAU here, but there are others in the past 12 pages.) As you belittle ham radio in general, it is good to remember that you are part of it. As you talk about how embarrassing hams are, you are one of us. Does that make you embarrassing?

JTY, you are very obviously disenchanted with ham radio, so why do you keep spending time here posting about it? Sure, it's your time, not mine to tell you how to use. But as down on ham radio as you seem, I would think you'd have found other things to do with your time.

It's like all the foreigners here in our country. As they continue to pour in, fleeing their homelands, they march in our streets complaining about it here. Hell, if they're so miserable, why are they here?

If ham radio is so bad, and to you it may well be, why are you still wasting YOUR time being here?

Oh and NAU, not you nor anyone else has ever heard a bash from me about no-code techs. You passed the test, you're a ham. So that isn't why I'm wondering about you being here. I seriously just wonder why you're here if you dislike it so much. And if you think ham radio is embarrassing, aren't you embarrassed?

I'll tell you folks what I see that's embarrassing, aside from the hamfesters who don't bathe (and sadly THAT stereotype really is true.) I'm reading the posts here with copies of the well-intentioned letters to Time. But for goodness sake folks, so many of you need to run your spell checkers. Trust me, Lev Grossman reading those letters is having his thoughts confirmed. Not only are we embarrassing, we're illiterate too.

On the subject of Time and respectable journalism, some years ago they made clear that as a publication, they would do what they could to sway their readership into believing that firearm ownership is bad. One editorial even went so far as to say they would publish distortions if that helped their cause.

That's not reporting; it's not news. So if you want news, you'll have to look elsewhere. Sadly, BBC is heard less and less often and with less clarity than in years past. But that's no excuse to read Time in search of the honest truth.

 

Ham radio is an embarassment. It is not the same hobby that it used to be years ago. Some of the hams that I know I wouldn't associate with as they are unfriendly. When I tell people that I am a Ham (or Amateur) radio operator, they look at me as if I had two heads or worse. These days I'm discreet about being a Ham. I keep my mouth shut.