Thursday, October 20, 2011

Was He Free? Was He Happy? The Question is Absurd: Had Anything Been Wrong, We Should Certainly Have Heard

UPDATE! According to this, WDAV has decided not to fire Lisa.

Wasn't going to post again until tomorrow, but news that a friend of this blog, Lisa Simeone, has been fired from her NPR gig for participating in October 2011 merits immediate attention:

National Public Radio on Wednesday discovered that a woman named Lisa Simeone who produced hosted a show about opera called "World of Opera" had been participating in a nonviolent occupation of Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., organized by October2011.org.  That same day, NPR persuaded a company for which Simeone worked to fire her, cutting her income in half and purging from the so-called public airwaves a voice that had never mentioned politics on NPR....

Simeone told me: "I find it puzzling that NPR objects to my exercising my rights as an American citizen -- the right to free speech, the right to peaceable assembly -- on my own time in my own life.  I'm not an NPR employee.  I'm a freelancer.  NPR doesn't pay me.  I'm also not a news reporter.  I don't cover politics.  I've never brought a whiff of my political activities into the work I've done for NPR World of Opera.  What is NPR afraid I'll do -- insert a seditious comment into a synopsis of Madame Butterfly? "This sudden concern with my political activities is also surprising in light of the fact that Mara Liaason reports on politics for NPR yet appears as a commentator on FoxTV, Scott Simon hosts an NPR news show yet writes political op-eds for national newspapers, Cokie Roberts reports on politics for NPR yet accepts large speaking fees from businesses.  Does NPR also send out 'Communications Alerts' about their activities?"

I need decide whether I need to digest this more than saying fuck NPR and fuck anyone who gives it another motherfucking penny, but in the meantime: Fuck NPR and anyone who gives it another motherfucking penny.

UPDATE! Lisa wasn't fired from NPR but from the company that produced her show. NPR probably asked/threatened that company to fire her, so the Fuck NPR and anyone who gives it another motherfucking penny stand.










THE UNKNOWN CITIZEN

W.H. Auden

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a
   saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content 
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace:  when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his
   generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their
   education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.


9 comments:

  1. Until I came here every press report I saw claimed that Ms. Simeone was a journalist and that her presence at #OWS represented a conflict of interest. Glad I came here.

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  2. I see that Michael Moore and Glenn Greenwald, among others, are raising a stink about Ms. Simeone too. Sunlight is good.

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  3. Nice Polite Republicans.

    They've been following the Cheney News Network's path a lot longer than this.

    NPR can go to hell, along with Dan Snyder and Walmart (just to name the others I've recently damned).
    ~

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  4. Won't someone please think of the company's image?

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  5. Maybe this is still developing, but the press reports I'm seeing (AP, WTOP so far) acknowledge that Simeone is no longer a journalist and was hosting only music shows.

    For what it's worth, NPR explicitly denies involvement in Soundprint firing her. I'm of mixed mind about that, and absent legal action and accompanying discovery, I'll never know the truth.

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  6. Very fair, Landru.

    Now who have you damned, lately?

    THAT'S what we want to know!
    ~

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  7. Doh. He awakens damning Dook. Daily.

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  8. Fire her ass! Journalismos should never be involved EVER in politics or be seen to be so. Although, we have to make exception for Hannity, Cavuto, O'Loofah, etc., w/r/t the Tea Party Movement last year. That was totally different.

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  9. I Have 15 million dollars in a Nigerian bank, but the damn bankers are demanding $5000 in fees before they'll release my funds. I am the 99%.

    ReplyDelete