From: John Smith on Aug 27, 5:00 pm

Len:

Little boys who never grow up only have their fairy tale dreams, how could
it be different--it is obvious from the get-go that they dream they are
secret agents fighting some secret war. They imagine themselves important
"radio operatives", not ever realizing the gov't has let old, retired,
decrepit men dream they are still vitally important as they have been
warehoused in "amateur service."

That's a tad harsh, John. Close, though. Ham radio is essentially
a solo operation: One man, one radio, listening a lot to assorted
radio signals...and natural/man-made noise. There's ample
opportunity to start imagining things, even to reading "signals"
in natural noise.

With OOK CW the ONLY clue they have to the other operator is the
kind of keying they use/do, the so-called "fist". OOK CW has NO
other clue as to that other person, no voice tone, no expression,
no body language, nothing of what we in-person humans use to
base social interaction on...just the absolute formality of certain
procedures, jargon, abbreviations. That other operator could be
of another gender and there is NO clue as to which one with OOK CW.

That alienation to normal other-person input can be responsible for
some of the strident bigotry about morsemanship...a defense AGAINST
having to conform as humans in social, in-person situations. With
a minimum of normal human clues to others, they can be whatever they
want to be, whatever they dream about, the emobdiment of their
internal fantasies. Who is to tell with OOK CW? All the normal
human clues are missing in such interaction.

In much the same way is computer-modem communications. All we have
is words on a screen. The "clues" to what another person is like
is dependent on how well they can compose sentences, communicate
ideas and feelings. Not all have such capabilities. It is similar
to OOK CW morse code but has at least one approximation of human-
interaction clue, the representation of speech. Voice is a NATURAL
thing in human interaction, all races, all genders, any nation.
Monotonic sound patterns are NOT natural for communications, not a
part of our natural behavior.

No longer can they tell reality from the dream, they are either unable or
unwilling to face the stark reality--it would be too painful... now they
must be left to hide within this dream world, they no longer have the
courage to face the truth... strange, but it probably all started out
with everyone wanting to be nice to them, but it became an evil and
diabolical trap to the demise of their credibility and respectability...

There are many psychological causes for a retreat into a fantasy
world. They might not be able to handle the pressures of reality.
They might be too ego-driven to accept change if they've become
good at some old procedure...and need that to retain their sense
of self-worth. They might be just fraudulent individuals seeking
prestige under a fantasy identification; personal income is not
always monetary. They might be just nuts.

No one takes any joy in such a sorrowful thing...

Certain other individuals in this newsgroup have. They have openly
wished others dead and thought nothing of it. That's perverted.

I've found enormous satisfaction in the entire technologic field
of radio-electronics, so much so that it has been my work as well
as hobby; one need not be licensed to build/experiment/explore if
the RF radiation is below government-specified standards. All of
electronics has been continuosly evolving, changing, IMPROVING,
opening up new vistas of technology in other fields, a working-
together of techno trades that benefit all. It is insane to have
to confine oneself to certain old procedures and standards in a
hobby endeavor, to have to behave in such utter formality of
everything. Amateur radio is NOT a job, not a guild, not a craft
of professionals. Neither is it some specific national resource
or a "service" for/of/about the nation. It is basically a HOBBY,
personal interest for recreation in a radio area that requires
licensing due to the nature of EM waves and human legislation to
regulate such EM wave uses.

I will be happy if more people recognize that amateur radio IS a
hobby and not some mythical "service" to their own imaginations
and desires for personal glory and misguided self-patriotism.




On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 16:25:14 -0700, wrote:
From: K4YZ on Aug 27, 7:32 am

(N0IMD in yet another drag) wrote:

text removed since it has already been posted in public