The political stuff was bad, but I was way more angry about the guys
making fun of other opperators over the air.
I can't imagine ever making fun of a guy on the air.  I mean, come on,
you never know who's listening.
Those guys probably wouldn't have made fun of other hams had they
known I was listening, but that's the thing. You can't use public
repeaters to make fun of people who, for all you know, have their
radios on and tuned.
argh.

On 10/20/13, Jim Gammon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> My sympathies Zach, we have a wacko out here that just rants
> nonsense and thank God, doesn't spout racist crap about President
> Obama at least yet.  I am truly fearful about the direction this
> country is taking where people just degenerate into hating people
> because of their viewpoints.
> We had some relatives here for a couple of weeks, and got along
> fine, even though one of them expressed the point of view that we
> have an idiot in the Whitehouse at present.  I bit my tongue
> because I had felt the same way about the previous occupant.  My
> opinion is that we, all of us, have to do whatever we can to get
> away from the partisan  arguing to literally save our country
> from being ripped apart because we can no longer govern ourselves
> democratically! Well, enough said here.  Jim WA6EKS
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
> From: Zach Shifflett <[log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date sent: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 02:24:24 -0400
> Subject: terrible behavior on two meter repeater: you guys won't
> believe this
>
> Hi all,
> Disclaimer: if you're not in the mood to read a long winded rant,
> just
> delete this message and I'll totally understand.  There's just
> something that happened tonight that I have to get off my chest.
> All right, here goes:
> So tonight, I've been up sitting in my office reading a book with
> my radio on.
> There are these two guys who get on late on a local repeater most
> weekends.
> They're not the most likable of characters at the best of times,
> but
> tonight they were just completely beyond all sense of propriety.
> First off, they were talking about politics.
> I know this isn't like a cardinal sin or anything, though
> personally I
> try to stay away from politics on the air.
> So these guys are talking about politics for a while, and it just
> devolves into an all out racist, ignorant, unbelievable rage
> fest.
> These folks were going on about how Obama is just in the white
> house
> to take revenge on white people, and how the government is full
> of
> terrorist democrats who got into politics just so they could take
> innocent people's money and use it to abort babies and take our
> guns
> away.
> They went so far as to say that the president is a peace of trash
> who
> hasn't gotten over the fact that black people used to be slaves,
> and
> just wants to destroy America.
> Now, while I don't agree with that thesis, I know there are
> people out
> there who do, and it's a free country, so you can have whatever
> opinion you want and it's fine with me.  What really angers me is
> how
> these guys are getting so pissed off on the radio that they're
> screaming and ranting nonsensically for hours and hours over the
> air.
> This kind of thing reflects poorly on the ham community as a
> whole,
> and just seems like terrible manners.
> And the sad thing is that isn't even the worst of it.
> There's a repeater in another town about 20 miles away that has a
> net
> every night that I frequent.
> You seriously couldn't find a better group of guys than that are
> on this net.
>
> So these two guys who had just finished ranting about politics
> finally
> stop, and the one guy says to the other, "so yeah, how bout that
> pathetic bunch of idiots who hang out on the .825 machine every
> night..." and so on and so on.
> Then, they started in on talking shit and laughing at one of the
> guys
> on the net, who not only did they name in person over the air,
> but is
> another blind ham.
> I think this particular ham they're talking about, who is also
> the
> blind ham, might have a minor intellectual disability or
> something, as
> sometimes he can be a little hard to understand, but said ham is
> one
> of the nicest guys on the net, and always has a good word for
> everybody he talks to.
> So here are these guys, who aren't even in the local club or
> anything,
> never to my knowledge volunteer or do anything with any of the
> ham
> outfits in the area, and they're talking for 2 straight hours on
> the
> open air and laughing at other hams, calling them out by name,
> who
> haven't even done anything wrong.
> It took every ounce of self-restraint I could manage not to get
> on the
> repeater, but I knew doing that would just feed the fire.
> Ok, that's it.  Thanks for listening.
> I just had to get this out there.  I was literally so pissed off
> my
> hands were shaking.
> 73,
> Zach, kk4ruz
>