Why I Love Radio Havana Cuba

[journalist3072]

So, I'm listening to Radio Havana Cuba on my shortwave radio this evening and one of their top news stories was the fact that the U.S. media is downplaying/under-reporting the protests this weekend in conjunction with the 2nd anniversary of the Iraq war.

And I couldn't help but think it's a shame that I have to go to foreign news media outlets to get really good coverage of what's going on in my own country!

What's wrong with that picture?

[siteleader]

1. Propaganda comes in many forms my friend

The picture is that you are listening to government sponsered radio funded by a commmunist dictator.

[ugarte]

2. So corporate radio tells the truth? Ha, ha.

No one has a monopoly on truth, not even capitalists.

[Andy_Stephenson]

3. Oh please...

I don't believe for a second that the US media is reporting honestly. I would believe Radio Havana over any US MSM media outlet.

[journalist3072]

6. Exactly my point! Thank you!

[Ann Arbor Dem]

4. Well, they are reporting the truth in this case...

It's definitely not propaganda. Have you seen the threads on DU with pictures and/or descriptions of the protests? Not much was seen or talked about on television "news" in the past few days.

[journalist3072]

8. KICK! eom

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[FlemingsGhost]

33. Couldn't resist, huh?

"Castro!"

As good as kicking over a rock ...

[Wilms]

43. In a way, I like when posts like this don't get deleted!

"...a commmunist dictator." Ooooooohhh :scared:

Let's try projection...yeah, that'll work. :eyes:

[ConsAreLiars]

5. Folks without Shortwave equipment can access Radio Havana

and other shortwave broadcasts via the net. DUer Gloria has provided a remarkable compilation of media resources at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/radio.htm

The information about shortwave is at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/shortwave.htm and the specific stations listing is at http://www.dxworld.com/sw_live.html

As corporate media becomes Corporatist media with an agenda of promoting fascism, these alternatives become increasingly important. Getting a shortwave radio in preparation for the time when even the net access gets restricted might be prudent.

[T Town Jake]

9. Flacking for Radio Havana. And Fidel Castro. A Communist dictator...

...can the tailor-made freeper cliches get any more obvious? Please... :eyes:

[K-W]

10. I dont think anyone is flacking for Castro on this thread.

I think someone is merely pointing out that an alternative news source from another nation can gives us a different perspective and different information.

Listening to what thier radio has to say isnt condoning the one party state in Cuba.

Take your oversimplifications and overgeneralization to freeperville. I am not concerned with whether or not the truth can be spun by liars.

[T Town Jake]

11. For starters, "Radio Havana" is not the BBC...

...no matter how you try to spin it.

For seconders, I don't know much about "freeperville": I don't hang out there. I suspect you're an expert about the matter, on the other hand - as the OP of this thread probably is, also.

[K-W]

14. I never tried to spin it that way, so what on earth are you talking about?

You are calling me a freeper? Why?

You do realize that England is not a single party state, so I couldnt possibly have been comparing the two, or did that go over your head?

[T Town Jake]

18. You accused ME of being a freeper in that post...

...I simply responded.

[K-W]

21. Actually, no I didnt, you just misread.

I accused you, accurately, of oversimplifying and overgeneralizing. I then pointed out that those are very common methods for freepers to spin with, simply because you are the one concerned with how the freepers view our threads.

You brought up freepers, I just referenced them, I never accused you of being one, please read more carefully before jumping to the conclusion that I am accusing you of something next time.

[T Town Jake]

26. Oh, I read it accurately alright...

...you just don't like being called on it.

[K-W]

27. No you actually didnt.

I love how you think its more likely that I am some kind of psycho who lies about what he said 5 minutes ago than that you misread something.

[ConsAreLiars]

12. Please give me your list of politically acceptable media

sources. I for sure would not want to listen to anything that you find objectionable. I certainly wouldn't want to act in any way or say anything that the Cons might criticize, and you seem very concerned about not offending them. Your guidance will be appreciated.

[T Town Jake]

16. My list sure doesn't include "Radio Havana," period...

...it's the "Faux News" of Castro's filthy regime, if not worse.

[K-W]

20. You spent alot of time listening to Cuban radio?

Im just curious as to the source of your judgements.

[T Town Jake]

23. I never heard Goebbels radio addresses, either...

...doesn't mean I can't make a summary judgment, in EITHER instance.

And the Castro regime is nothing more or less than an example of watery fascism, plain and simple.

[K-W]

25. Actually no, if you have no experience with something

your claims about it are of little value. You claim it is like fox news, yet you have never heard it, meaning you are pulling your argument out of your ass.

Your argument is that because everything in cuba under castro is all bad, the radio must be all bad to. Because Cuba is a one party state, thye might as well be Nazi's. Your argument is oversimplification and overgeneralization, based on assumption with no actual evidence.

If this is an important issue for you, go do some objective research.

[T Town Jake]

28. My post is DEAD ON and EXACTLY RIGHT...

...you've never suffered under Castro's regime, I see. Why don't you try it out for a few years? Head to Mexico City, get a Visa, and emigrate?

Then get back to me... :eyes:

[K-W]

30. I have made not one single claim about life in Cuba,

so what on earth are you talking about?

I dont claim to know what it is like to live there, you do. I dont claim to fully understand one of the most politisized places on the planet, you do.

All Ive asked you to do is back up your claims, and you respond by pretending that I am making claims and not backing them up... how original.

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[T Town Jake]

38. LOL...to paraphrase HST...

...I'm "spouting" the truth, and you just think it's "shit."

Curious to hear why, if you think Castro's paradise is so grand, you didn't stay down there?

But I think we already know the answer to that question...

[FlemingsGhost]

42. I wasn't allowed, per U.S. State Department.

"Paradise" was your word. Please do not attempt to speak for me, as communicting your own ideas appears to be challenging enough... given the ignorance and all.

I had the rare privilege to witness the many vehicles that constitute the Cuban healthcare system. We have much to learn, if folks would stop living in fear of things we know little about.

Let's say we start with you, mkay?

[ConsAreLiars]

31. So, you say I should not listen to Radio Havana

What other media outlets should I shut my mind to? I often watch Mosaic on LinkTV, a compilation of news broadcasts from the middle east. Is this also forbidden? How about DW News, the German equivalent to BBC? Is this permitted in your world of acceptable listening? How abot the BBC? I also wonder about NBC, owned by a death for profit corporation -- is it on your list of approved or disapproved infomation sources?

[Mick Knox]

19. If its a true story whats the problem?

[applegrove]

13. No point in fighting one bunch of Utopians by listen to another bunch!

Didn't you know? Utopians always lead to totalitarianism? In Cuba the people are so poor that they don't have an economy except for tourists. The restaurants are empty..there is no work. And a policeman on each corner.

For a while there female doctors were working as prostitutes because there was no other way to make money.

Cuba is an example of how to make your people have a really hard time. Castro should have resigned by now. Communism does not work. And even Castro makes tourists pay market rates. What do you think about that? There is no middle class in Cuba.

[K-W]

15. Wow, what an odd anti-castro tirade

that has little to do with the topic of the thread...

Actually I can see how Cuban media might be an interestings listen, whether they are themselves without sin, or thier motives are pure, a critic of the US could be useful to get a critical outside perspective? Right?

[applegrove]

29. I don't want to see us gravitate towards Cuba's way or copying them.

They are the last communist country in the world. And yes they have made some adjustments. A decade ago there were reports about prostitutes in Havana and how they were well educated.

The point is that Cuba could have been so much more. For sure get rid of the mob and make it a more equal place. But reforms just stopped after a while. Castro has not had elections for 40 years. I mean - the lost opportunity.

I just hate it when people try to paint Cuba as some sort of Utopia. It is not - and it should be doing much better. I for one was never for the American bullying and terrorism against Cuba. That - like with the Islamist fundies - may have entrenched Castro into tyranny. I think Cuba should be a happy socialist country with markets and elections. It is a rich piece of land and there should be much more to the lives there than there is.

I will try to find a link on the prostitution there.

[K-W]

32. Nobody is suggesting doing so.

Stop oversimplifying everything.

Listening to Cuban radio for a different perspective is not supporting Cuba or it's government.

Saying that Cuba isnt as bad as our government says it is isnt calling castro a saint and saying that in some areas their society seems to be doing pretty well is not saying we should become a totalitarian state with communist ideals.

Why this fear that people will get the wrong idea, I think it is pretty safe to assume that nobody here wants to duplicate cuba here, I dont see why we even have to discuss the isssue. Reasonable people can discuss Cuba without risk of becoming crazy commies accidentally.

[T Town Jake]

34. Cuban Radio IS the voice of it's government...

...and that government is a scummy entity from stem to stern.

Why is it that simple, truthful FACT so difficult for you to discern? Very curious...

[K-W]

35. Nobody is disputing that, so why do you keep repeating it?

And why are you pretending I am avoiding it or dont realize.

I have continued to agree with you that Cuba is a one party state and that they control the radio. We completely agree.

And it is because we are all fully aware of this fact that there is no harm listening to it, and that we can even find some value in hearing the perspective of the cuban government's media. Nobody is saying that value is as an objective news source, its just a different perspective.

[T Town Jake]

37. So, we agree? Great...

...I'm all for it. :smoke:

I say anyone can listen to their heart's content - but Fidel Castro and his regime are still the definition of scummy fascist values, and anyone listening to his propaganda radio should keep that in mind.

[applegrove]

40. Tks n/t

[ConsAreLiars]

17. Links?

The CIA factbook paints a rather different picture, but maybe that is a commie front group. maybe.

[Mick Knox]

22. Ive not heard this about Cuba

got a source?

Things are pretty good in Cuba for most.

[T Town Jake]

24. "Things are pretty good in Cuba for most"...

...surely you fucking jest...

[RagingInMiami]

41. If you believe all the Cubans that live in Miami

And the hundreds that keep washing a shore each month, you would envision Cuba to be a complete hellhole.

[Wilms]

39. kick n/t

[Cascadian]

44. Just about any foreign news outlet is better than the media here.

You want to talk about Sovietized media. The mainstream media here is it! Probably more Sovietized than in Russia now. The only foreign media I would not believe would probably be from North Korea. Everybody else including Cuba has a less than biased world view. No. I would rather get the Cuban view than the corporate view anyday!


John