Raise the Hammer

Thanks for the comments fastcars and disagree,

Disagree – I understand your comments completely. If I had not had the good fortune to share the airwaves with Roy for a short time it’s unlikely I would have become a regular listener. ‘Incendiary journalism’ is not my thing.

But one thing I have learned from my activist experiences is how critical it is to package and ‘sell’ your message. The reason Roy attracts and keeps so many listeners is because he has a knack of getting to the heart of an issue. Whether you agree with him or not, he can excite a reaction. Instead of complaining that Roy is ‘bullying his audience’ (a remark I heard from an activist friend) or being incendiary, should we not look at his success and try to learn from his example?

In the end we are all trying to communicate - to ‘sell’ - our opinions and ideas. We are all looking for converts to our cause. The ability to pack a punch with our message is vital. I’m not advocating we create a misleading message, or that we dumb it down as Talk Radio hosts sometimes do, but we should be aware that short attention spans are common and that in many cases our message – as it pertains to sustainable development – can be dry and hard to digest.

What Roy often manages to do is simplify – electrify even – complex issues and convert the masses to his cause. Sure, it’s ultimately with the aim of attracting more listeners - radio is a business after all - but I still believe that there is still a lesson to be learned from the methods he uses.

Another point I wanted to get across was that while Roy may have stood his ground well, and often times treated dissenting listeners with a certain amount of distain, this was not the full measure of the man. My experience with Roy taught me that he was a fair person at heart, who liked nothing more than a good debate.

I would take Roy Green with an infuriating opinion over some touchy feely CBC ‘discussion forum' any day. Issues should excite us, not send us to sleep.

Cheers

Ben