Well, to be more specific it is actually the local affliate, KWMU, which is on the speed dial. This morning on a local show called St. Louis on the Air they had some scientists discussing stem cell research. It was not a show about the ethics of it, but rather the science of it. Of course, and perhaps by necessity, all of the scientists were for stem cell therapies, including using embryonic stem cells or perhaps especially using embryonic stem cells.
I decided to call but had to wait for about 10 minutes until they gave the number again. With about 20 minutes left in the show the guy who answered my call indicated that there would likely be time to get me on. I told him, though my question touched on ethics, I wanted to ask about just how embryonic stem cell lines are derived. As I nervously waited to get on I formulated my question to respect what I felt were the implied limits of the discussion:
This question is ethically motivated, but what I am interested in is the science of how embryonic stem cells are derived. If President Bush’s restriction on stem cell lines were reversed, where would scientists get the embryoes? At what stage in their life cycle are they harvested? And how are cell lines established?
I felt the question was fair in that I would acknowledge my bias and their responses would serve as a sort of disclosure. It is very likely I would not have gotten my question out as fluidly as written above, and I may have struggled against interjecting opinion, only I never got my question out at all because the show ended.
I struggled a bit. The guy said there were 5 people before me, did I count them off correctly? Did they deliberately ignore my question when they saw it on the board? Perhaps. Probably not. It is very likely that it was simply for the lack of time. My reactions were interesting to me, though, because, well, they were reactionary and suspicious. It was helpful to realize and acknowledge this, and let it be a lesson in my process to approach disourse less polemically, and hopefully, consequently, more effectively.
So that is the story of how NPR is on my speed dial. I know some of you are scratching your head saying “NPR, you listen to NPR?” Yes, I know its reputation in some circles. Yes, in response to an angle on a story or a tone, I still sometimes, though rarely, label it “National Poophead Radio” (I haven’t been able to come up with anything less juvenile and more witty yet). For the vast majority of time, though, I listen to my benefit.
But the story of that largely good, somewhat dysfunctional relationship will have to wait until another post.