*****Before anyone start reading this, go to the top of the page and click on the "Neil Glasman's View" link. Make sure you read that through so you know what it is I am responding to and talking about in this blog post.*****
I've been working on this post for most of the week. I've been trying to let everything Neil said about our interview sink in, in order to give him a proper response. As such here is my response to everything Neil brought up about our interview:
1. I either ignored the issues raised or created a diversion - Neil stated that instead of answering the questions he asked me, I talked around in circles and avoided answering him. The problem I have with this is that not all of his questions were actually direct, which makes it rather had to give a direct answer. The example Neil uses in when he asks me why I am addicted to technology. The problem here is Neil's question is loaded. If I give a reason, I immediately admit that I am addicted to technology, which I disagree with, so in order to actually give him an answer I need to first explain why his assumption about me is incorrect. Most of the questions Neil asked about me specifically were questions filled with assumptions about who I am as a person. When you make assumptions in the questions to are asking someone, and those assumptions are incorrect then you make it impossible to get a direct answer to the things you are asking. If you really want a good interview with someone, you need to make sure your questions are unbiased, which Neil's obviously weren't.
2. "First World Problems" - Here Neil complains, and in my opinion, goes on a bit of a rant about how my show is structured and how I am incredibly over-privileged and oblivious to the 'true' problems of the world. I know what Neil wants. Neil wants me to have a show where I talk to people about horrible things happening all over the world in hopes of raising awareness about certain issues and problems, etc. I'm not about to do that. If you read the newspaper, or watch the news you already know anything I would tell you. If you don't do either then you don't want to hear about it anyway. All that the news is filled with is depressing news that make you want to hate the world. My show is suppose to be about having fun. After a harsh week you can tune into my show on a Friday night and just unwind and laugh. I am not about to make thousands of listeners even more depressed than they might already be. I want my listeners to listen, to laugh, and to enjoy the time they tune into my show. If you don't like that Neil, I am sorry, but that is all that there is to it.
3. Just because I am from Canada doe not mean I can be ignorant of the rest of the world - Here Neil gets pissed off at me because he keeps asking me about laws or regulations that are in the United States, and I couldn't give him any opinion simply because I don't know what he is talking about. Why is it wrong for me to not know the laws and regulations of another country? This right here is American ignorance, where he thinks that everybody needs to know his countries laws and if you don't you are foolish. Here is the truth. I live in Canada. I know the laws of my country. Tell me Neil, do you know every law in Canada? I do not pay attention to things in the United States because they don't matter to me. It is not me being ignorant, it is me being realistic. If I ever choose to move to the country I will start to look into your different laws and what is going on over there. Not knowing about your country doesn't make me ignorant, but you thinking it does make you.
4. Neil says an abusive, insane system of policing exists. I complain about cops speeding - During the interview I asked Neil why he seems to have a vendetta against the police. He went on for a while about his qualms, and I didn't really have anything as harsh as he was saying to add. What I said may have sounded insensitive and I apologize for that. What I was trying to say, was that the worst I have seen from cops where I am from is them speeding. It's unfortunate that you have to have witnessed the things you do. But I will not fuel your political fire on my show. For the past five plus years I have done this show both Tommy and myself have done our best to keep our political feet dry. I know next to nothing about any political matters, so I keep my nose out of it. Against, it isn't being ignorant, its being smart. You don't talk about thing you know nothing about, that is putting your foot in your own damn mouth. And no matter what you say Neil, when you say lines like, "The police are basically the foot soldiers for the Elite who rule the world and are increasingly made up of narcissistic sociopaths who rarely think twice about filling someone full of bullets just because they feel like it," you are pushing a political ideal. I will not accept that kind of content on my show so I did not want to add to the fire you had tried to start.
To Neil:
Please keep this in mind for any future interviews with people. When you have questions to ask, make sure that they are unbiased as they are your best bet at getting the direct answers you seek. However you also need to be aware of the time you are being given for the interview. I don't know if you are aware, but on my show you were allocated 30 minutes for the interview. Because I was enjoying the time we were talking, we extended it to an hour. However you kept talking even after we had doubled the amount of time we were suppose to originally be talking. I had no choice but to cut you off at the very end. This is radio, we are stuck to a schedule. In the future I advise you to be mindful of the time you have and make the best use of it. Again, thank you for taking the time to talk to me as it was a nice change from what we usually do for the show.
-Adam Gadal
I've been working on this post for most of the week. I've been trying to let everything Neil said about our interview sink in, in order to give him a proper response. As such here is my response to everything Neil brought up about our interview:
1. I either ignored the issues raised or created a diversion - Neil stated that instead of answering the questions he asked me, I talked around in circles and avoided answering him. The problem I have with this is that not all of his questions were actually direct, which makes it rather had to give a direct answer. The example Neil uses in when he asks me why I am addicted to technology. The problem here is Neil's question is loaded. If I give a reason, I immediately admit that I am addicted to technology, which I disagree with, so in order to actually give him an answer I need to first explain why his assumption about me is incorrect. Most of the questions Neil asked about me specifically were questions filled with assumptions about who I am as a person. When you make assumptions in the questions to are asking someone, and those assumptions are incorrect then you make it impossible to get a direct answer to the things you are asking. If you really want a good interview with someone, you need to make sure your questions are unbiased, which Neil's obviously weren't.
2. "First World Problems" - Here Neil complains, and in my opinion, goes on a bit of a rant about how my show is structured and how I am incredibly over-privileged and oblivious to the 'true' problems of the world. I know what Neil wants. Neil wants me to have a show where I talk to people about horrible things happening all over the world in hopes of raising awareness about certain issues and problems, etc. I'm not about to do that. If you read the newspaper, or watch the news you already know anything I would tell you. If you don't do either then you don't want to hear about it anyway. All that the news is filled with is depressing news that make you want to hate the world. My show is suppose to be about having fun. After a harsh week you can tune into my show on a Friday night and just unwind and laugh. I am not about to make thousands of listeners even more depressed than they might already be. I want my listeners to listen, to laugh, and to enjoy the time they tune into my show. If you don't like that Neil, I am sorry, but that is all that there is to it.
3. Just because I am from Canada doe not mean I can be ignorant of the rest of the world - Here Neil gets pissed off at me because he keeps asking me about laws or regulations that are in the United States, and I couldn't give him any opinion simply because I don't know what he is talking about. Why is it wrong for me to not know the laws and regulations of another country? This right here is American ignorance, where he thinks that everybody needs to know his countries laws and if you don't you are foolish. Here is the truth. I live in Canada. I know the laws of my country. Tell me Neil, do you know every law in Canada? I do not pay attention to things in the United States because they don't matter to me. It is not me being ignorant, it is me being realistic. If I ever choose to move to the country I will start to look into your different laws and what is going on over there. Not knowing about your country doesn't make me ignorant, but you thinking it does make you.
4. Neil says an abusive, insane system of policing exists. I complain about cops speeding - During the interview I asked Neil why he seems to have a vendetta against the police. He went on for a while about his qualms, and I didn't really have anything as harsh as he was saying to add. What I said may have sounded insensitive and I apologize for that. What I was trying to say, was that the worst I have seen from cops where I am from is them speeding. It's unfortunate that you have to have witnessed the things you do. But I will not fuel your political fire on my show. For the past five plus years I have done this show both Tommy and myself have done our best to keep our political feet dry. I know next to nothing about any political matters, so I keep my nose out of it. Against, it isn't being ignorant, its being smart. You don't talk about thing you know nothing about, that is putting your foot in your own damn mouth. And no matter what you say Neil, when you say lines like, "The police are basically the foot soldiers for the Elite who rule the world and are increasingly made up of narcissistic sociopaths who rarely think twice about filling someone full of bullets just because they feel like it," you are pushing a political ideal. I will not accept that kind of content on my show so I did not want to add to the fire you had tried to start.
To Neil:
Please keep this in mind for any future interviews with people. When you have questions to ask, make sure that they are unbiased as they are your best bet at getting the direct answers you seek. However you also need to be aware of the time you are being given for the interview. I don't know if you are aware, but on my show you were allocated 30 minutes for the interview. Because I was enjoying the time we were talking, we extended it to an hour. However you kept talking even after we had doubled the amount of time we were suppose to originally be talking. I had no choice but to cut you off at the very end. This is radio, we are stuck to a schedule. In the future I advise you to be mindful of the time you have and make the best use of it. Again, thank you for taking the time to talk to me as it was a nice change from what we usually do for the show.
-Adam Gadal