Friday, August 28, 2009

D.C.: NPR and tea-bagging in the rain


Due to some kind of audio glitch, the C-Span video of the Lemuria signing turned out to be unusable, so they decided to film today’s live broadcast on NPR’s “Diane Rehm Show.” This means that once the call-in segment of the show started, there was a strange overlap: They filmed me talking on the phone while being interviewed on the radio. Apparently that was nothing new to them, but it was new to me. To whom, really, was I addressing my comments? To the caller? To the radio audience? To the show host? Or to the C-Span viewers?

I addressed them to the callers.

The presence of the C-Span camera was one of two last-minute changes, the other being that BBC journalist Katty Kay was the host.

Back in 2004 I was on the Diane Rehm Show, which originates from D.C.’s American University and is syndicated all over the world, for Mississippi in Africa and enjoyed it very much. Rehm asked more pointed and thought-provoking questions than most interviewers and elicited call-ins from a range of listeners from across the country. The same was true for Katty Kay and Sultana.

Among the callers was Arkansas Congressman Vic Snyder, who said he has sponsored a resolution commemorating the Sultana disaster (H Res. 329), because the government has never properly memorialized the event and because of what it says about war profiteers who caused the overloading of the boat; Snyder said there are lessons to be learned from the disaster, including about “rip-offs during war.” Lest anyone think he is using current interest in the Sultana to attract attention to himself, Snyder has voiced his support for commemorating the disaster for many years. More power to him.

Other calls came from a woman in Indiana who wanted to know how she could check to see if one of her ancestors was on the Sultana; a guy who wanted to know why there was no accountability for the disaster and why it has received so little emphasis in history (answer on both counts: The same, because lack of public exposure and interest led to lackadaisical prosecution); a retired coast guard inspector who had specific comments about the Sultana’s boilers; and a Michigan woman who is a member of the Sultana survivors’ descendants association.

The time went by quickly, and a lot of callers did not have a chance to pose their questions. As I was going out the door one of the show’s producers gave me copies of emails that had come in during the show, including one from Bryan in Rochester, N.Y., who noted, “With Sultana, we see a private contractor, working for the government, making a buck by short changing American servicemen. Today, with groups like Haliburton and Blackwater, we still see the same issue. I guess those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

To hear the interview, go here: http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/04/15.php#25624

Otherwise, it was a rainy day for the rightwing tea-baggers who had scheduled a protest near the White House. Too bad for that.

In the late afternoon I headed back to the airport for the return to Memphis, at which point another question presented itself: Why do people talk so loudly on their cell phones? This is often a source of consternation for me when I’m waiting at airport gates. There are times when my ipod can’t drown out the cacophony of loud, inane conversations among strangers that are, invariably, acutely uninteresting.

 

 

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