[HCDX] Re: [SWL] Fwd: BBC Goes Quiet: The REAL Reasons

[Bruce Portzer <bportzer@xxxxxxxx>]

The real reason they dropped broadcasts to the Pacific and North America
can be summed up as (1) They're satisfied that things are under control
here, i.e. mainstream thinking is consistent with what BBC management
(and to a lesser extent the British government) likes, (2) there are
other avenues for BBC programming in these regions.  So to get them to
reconsider, we simply need to demonstrate that this isn't the case. 
Here are some tactics that would probably work:

1.  Have the Canadian government declare French its sole official
language.
2.  Better still, have the Australian and NZ governments declare French
as their official language,and add that it's "to forge a stronger
relationship with Tahiti, Wallis & Futuna, and New Caledonia".
3.  Organize a Million Irishman March on Washington DC - burn the Union
Jack, hang Tony in effigy, and have lots of rousing speeches supporting
the IRA and Shin Fein (or however it's supposed to be spelled).
4.  Have George W. make a profound malapropic statement about Britain. 
For example, "the English should abolish the monarcy and replace it with
a free market economy like ours".
5.  Have a wealthy person make a large donation to National Public
Radio, with the condition that they replace all BBC programs with Howard
Stern.
6.  Get the US government to demand membership in the Commonwealth. 
After all, the US is in part a collection of former British colonies. 
This would raise difficult questions the British government would prefer
not to deal with, like "Just what is the purpose of the Commonwealth,
and what does it do?" It would fall on the BBCWS to try to convincingly
answer these sorts of questions without actually lying or telling the
truth. 
7.  Have one of the London radio stations change its format to nothing
but American talk shows like Rush Limbaugh, Art Bell, etc.  The British
will quickly find out how awful our social and political institutions
really are, not to mention general level of ignorance that exists in the
U.S.

Someone can probably add to the list, but the key thing is to show them
we aren't the enlightened people they think we are.  Hopefully, moves
like these will show them we need their wisdom at least as much as the
parts of the world they still serve.

73
Bruce

Tomas Hood - NW7US wrote:
> 
> If you have not heard about the BBC's dropping all of their
> broadcasts via Shortwave to North America and the Pacific (New
> Zealand, Ausralia, etc.), then be aware that they leave the air
> tomorrow, June 31, 2001.  The following was found on
> rec.radio.shortwave, and is a fine list of reasons WHY the BBC is
> dropping these services... (for more info, though, you might wish
> to visit http://savebbc.org)
> 
> In rec.radio.shortwave, "hamilton" <hamilton@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
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