FCC vs. Harold Camping????

[progressivetalk]

By now, we've all learned that the Earth is still here and the "Rapture" will come some other day. However, this does not excuse the fact that a radio "preacher", one Harold Camping has made a lot of hay on predicting the end of the world would be this Saturday. Missed it by thhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttt much.

My question on this forum is a simple one? Should Camping be fined by the FCC for his "prediction" or should he be forced to sell off his "Family Radio" stations as the ultimate fine for playing on the fears of the radio public.

Scott Fybush reported on NERW this afternoon that Camping's licenses for his stations in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast will soon be up for renewal (I wasn't aware that God needed a license to "proclaim the word", guess I was mistaken),and that he may face some significant resistance from other broadcasters in the area to renewing his licenses after this stunt backfired so very badly.

Although WCTF has a limited signal and is a daytimer only, I could live with it become the progressive talk station that Hartford badly needs. Wikipedia, in its blurb on WCTF noted that in 1992, the station applied for a CP to raise the wattage from 1000 to 2500, which would have given WCTF nighttime coverage. New ownership for the station could revise the CP and actually do something with the station.

I read on Yahoo, that one of Camping's fools...er supporters spent $140,000 of his own money on the billboards that proclaimed the end of the world. Camping may reimburse him for the money, and considering the fact that Family Radio is worth north of $100 million, I think that Camping just might want to reimburse this guy and the others who were stupid enough to fall for it.

Camping is supposed to return to airwaves tonight to explain why he's "flabbergasted" on why the world did not end on Saturday as expected. Good luck with that one, you fraud!!!

 

[DToTheJ]

It's a double-edged sword: The people that donated to Camping did so on their own in believning Camping's garbage. And he's not profiting that much from Family Radio, from what I have read.

Anyway, he already went on record as saying that donations will not be returned - oh, and that October 21 is the new "doomsday".

 

[ansky212]

I always blame the "believers" in these types of situations rather than the people preaching. There is such a lack of common sense in society today. The preacher wouldn't even exist if there wasn't some sucker falling for it.

 

[Ozman]

I'd Like to complain the renewal for 91.7 in Kingston NY. WXCI could use the area for a little extra coverage ;D

 

[TheBigA]

My question on this forum is a simple one? Should Camping be fined by the FCC for his "prediction" or should he be forced to sell off his "Family Radio" stations as the ultimate fine for playing on the fears of the radio public.

On what grounds? This wasn't a "stunt." This man believed the rapture was coming. He's not the only one. Lots of people believe rapture is coming. They may not be able to put a day on it, but they believe. That belief is protected by the Constitution, and Congress shall make no law infringing it. I don't expect any fine to come from this, and definitely don't expect the FCC to force divestiture. There is nothing in the law that would require that. Stupidity is not against the law. In fact, some would say it's protected.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I always blame the "believers" in these types of situations rather than the people preaching. There is such a lack of common sense in society today. The preacher wouldn't even exist if there wasn't some sucker falling for it.

That strikes me as a strange social value. Is there no "belief" in your personal life? No political belief? No patriotic belief? No moral belief? No spiritual belief? If an individual wants to have a belief, it is common to look outside yourself for guidelines, new ideas, confirmation, correction and sifting. Thus there seems to be a place in life for "dispensers" of belief. A civilized society finds ways to impede or eliminate truly lousy or crooked dispensers.

What if we took your philosophy over into the business world, and product and merchandise world. If we follow your thinking it would not be illegal to make and sell contaminated food... we would encourage a society which simply says: buyer beware. It would not be a crime to call people on the phone and scam them out of their credit card number, their social security number, etc. After all the "suckers" are the only one responsible when a crime occurs.

Don't plan on running for office in my district. ;D

What seems to be up for grabs here is this: Is Camping a naive but sincere propagator of Christian thinking? Or is he a con-man who knows he is a con-man? I think he sees himself as a "true and faithful" teacher. But my message to him is:

Don't plan on running for office in my congregation. :

 

[WPHA]

That man is an absolute FOOL! The Bible very directly, clearly, and specifically PROHIBITS this kind of nonsense, and it even goes so far as to WARN its readers AWAY from the FOOLS who set dates. It couldn't be any clearer.

The BEST thing to happen, would be for his COMPLETE REMOVAL from the airwaves, altogether, AND his ouster from leadership of that radio network.

 

[DToTheJ]

...This man believed the rapture was coming. He's not the only one. Lots of people believe rapture is coming. They may not be able to put a day on it, but they believe...

I actually thought that last night, Lauren from "American Idol" had her voice raptured - as it turns out, it pulled a Camping and she performed as scheduled. ;D

 

[ansky212]

That strikes me as a strange social value. Is there no "belief" in your personal life? No political belief? No patriotic belief? No moral belief? No spiritual belief? If an individual wants to have a belief, it is common to look outside yourself for guidelines, new ideas, confirmation, correction and sifting. Thus there seems to be a place in life for "dispensers" of belief. A civilized society finds ways to impede or eliminate truly lousy or crooked dispensers.

What if we took your philosophy over into the business world, and product and merchandise world. If we follow your thinking it would not be illegal to make and sell contaminated food... we would encourage a society which simply says: buyer beware. It would not be a crime to call people on the phone and scam them out of their credit card number, their social security number, etc. After all the "suckers" are the only one responsible when a crime occurs.

You clearly read way too much into my post. Of course people should be punished for trying to scam others. But my point is, common sense comes first. We can't (and shouldn't have to) always
rely on others to make decisions for us or watch out for us. So when a scammer calls a person and tells them to wire $1,000 to Nigeria to claim
their million dollar lottery prize, you're saying a person should go ahead and do that because they truly believe they have won?
Common sense would tell a normal person not to send the money. Just like common sense should have stopped the person from spending their life savings
buying billboards to "save" everyone from the rapture. Any intelligent person would have known to question the source of the information.
Didn't momma ever tell you, "don't believe everything you hear"?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

But my point is, common sense comes first. We can't (and shouldn't have to) always rely on others to make decisions for us or watch out for us. So when a scammer calls a person and tells them to wire $1,000 to Nigeria to claim
their million dollar lottery prize, you're saying a person should go ahead and do that because they truly believe they have won?

Common sense would tell a normal person not to send the money.

To have a worthwhile discussion on this tangent, we would have to first discuss at length: "Define a normal person."

Much of the philosophical and political discussion taking place in our nation today is being driven by people who seem to think everyone comes from a family where all the children go to college and get an MBA... all normal people have jobs paying at least $120,000 each, etc, etc, etc.

If you grew up in the Ozarks or Appalachia where some communities have the "norm" attitude that we don't want our schools excelling like the city people demand: we want our kids to know just enough to stay here in our rural county and live out their lives so we will have them here to look after us in our older years..... then you might have in your value system a feature that says: there are people in this world who need help to recognize a scam, and who need a protective methodology in society to offer them some protection.

If you live long enough to watch your spouse of 50 plus years have his/her mind bent and tortured by chemotherapy to the point they ask you multiple times per day: What is today?... then you might have in your value system a feature that says: there are people in this world who need help....

If you ever have a spouse or a child fall victim to mental illness such as Bi-polar disorder... then you might have in your value system a feature that says: some people need help and protection.

If you grew up in a family and community where everyone you know has been shaped by some form of fundamentalist, literalistic religion or "ism" you would know that some people are not equipped to stand totally on their own and never fall victim to a scam.

But I assume you grew up in Lake Woebegone... where all the children are above average... including yourself.

We may live in a nation where we proclaim to believe that all men are created equal.... (when it comes to their rights!)... but if you believe all men have equal abilities to discern truth, smell corruption and recognize poor logic.... maybe it's time to walk through some neighborhoods that are not familiar to you.