All this stuff about dumbing down America is garbage. This lady works
for the CDC and has this kind of attitude? Thats scary. By the same
token, I guess a physician is less of a doctor, is 'dumb' because he
uses an MRI to make a diagnosis rather than cutting someone open for
exploratory surgery.
Telegraphy (in its simplest form, smoke signals) has been around
for thousands of years, keys for a bit over 200. Its time to move on
people.
CW is a nice skill to have, as are woodworking, horseback riding
and knitting. But not one of them is relevant to life in the 21st
century. not even a little bit. If everyone with those abilities fell
off the planet right now, the world would hardly notice the loss. Thats
just the way it is. Amatuer Radio operators can be innovators that
move along with the times and embrace new opportunities (as we have
done for the most part) or we can keep crying about how things were in
the good old days and become (extinct) dinosaurs.
Now if you will excuse me I need to start studying for my General.


Stefan Wolfe wrote:
SAN FRANCISCO: It may be the ultimate SOS.

Morse Code is in distress.
......
......
While the decision had been expected, some ham radio operators fear that
their exclusive club has been opened to the unwashed masses
- and that the very survival of Morse Code is in question.
......
The demise of the Morse requirement, however, could be a boon for ham radio
itself. After the FCC decision, demand for information
about radio licenses surged from about 200 in a typical weekend to about
500, according to the American Radio Relay League, an
organization representing ham radio operators.
......
"It's part of the dumbing down of America," said Nancy Kott, editor of World
Radio magazine and a field representative for the
Centers for Disease of Control and Prevention in Metamora, Michigan. "We
live in a society today that wants something for nothing."

A female in a mostly male radio world, Kott is one of about 660,000 licensed
ham operators in the United States and is the U.S.
leader of Fists CW Club, an organization that calls itself the International
Morse Preservation Society.

... So true, Ms. Kott...