Easy Listening and Toni Morrison

I have always liked listening to talk shows that made you listen and actually think about what people are saying. I don't like the echo chamber that our corporate media has become where hyperbole and extremism wins the day in the hunt for greater ratings; however an interesting irony exists. In this era of increased democratization and unprecedented access to streams of information and media, the harder it seems to distinguish fact from fiction. There is a level of uncertainty that permeates everything that comes across our eyes and ears. The fog of war concept applied to information. And instead of fighting through the fog, we retreat to our own base camps where we can find information that conforms to our own personal world view instead of seeking new information to develop our own world view.

Now having stood on my soap box, I would like to say that I have been a frequent listener to a WBUR show, On Point with Tom Ashbrook for several years. Granted the show is an opinion show with guests, etc., but the show addresses news, arts, culture, health, technology, environmental, and business topics that is actually balanced in that you can hear different view points without having someone be shouted down. I have not listened to a talk show with this frequency since the passing of David Brudnoy. If you are from Boston or was within the massive range of the WBZ AM signal, you know who he was.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brudnoy

In any case, I am not a shill for anyone, but from time to time check out what is going at On Point. You are liable to hear a good interview or interesting perspective on the topics of the day. This past Christmas Day, they rebroadcast an interview with Toni Morrison that originally aired in May 2009 discussing the role of the writer. Interesting.

http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/12/toni-morrison#comments