You can learn a lot from a man with intellectual curiosity. George Michael Evica was that kind of man.
The lack of this kind of curiosity defines a leader like George Bush - swagger, self-assured, stubborn and mostly wrong.
George Michael Evica was the antithesis of people like George Bush.
George Michael Evica, the longtime host of Assassination Journal, which was broadcast each Tuesday on WWUH, died this past weekend.
He laughed at those who dismissed him as a conspiracy-theorist, and rightfully so, because much of what he presented on his show that seemed, on the surface outlandish, impossible and unbelievable, eventually proved to be the the truth.
If he wasn't cutting close to the truth so often, then there's little explanation for the reams of files that our government kept on him.
George Michael was brilliant, gracious, funny, acerbic and until the late stages of his cancer, indefatigable.
I listened to his show regularly. It was a forerunner of many of the shows which we now consider pioneers of alternative news and broadcasting. I can't say there's any one story or fact that stands out as eureka moment for me, because there were so many of them. And George Michael's great ability to synthesize, and connect-the-dots, allowed him to point the light of his intellect at shadowy areas that threaten democracy.
What I learned most from George Michael was a way of thinking. Ask questions. Don't accept facile facts. Don't believe what your government tells you (and unfortunately, this is a necessary practice most of the time.) Don't believe what you read in the papers (this is something my dad told me too). And most of all, don't settle for anything less than the truth.
I thought of George Michael this morning when I heard a newscaster report that US military leaders in Iraq say violent attacks are down, proving that the "surge" is working. The newscaster reported this government report as fact. I thought, "Who created this report? What figures are they using? Why would they want me to believe this? If violence has decreased, what are the real facts (neighborhood-by-neighborhood ethnic cleansing, the flight of the monied and intellectual classes, alliances with forces which were once considered the enemy). And finally, why should I believe anything the government, especially this government, is telling me?
Do I believe what that newscaster said? No. Could it be the truth? Maybe, but unlikely. I'll wait for the facts.
And for this healthy skepticism, I can thank George Michael Evica. We'll miss him at WWUH, and his audience will miss his absence every Tuesday at noon.
UPDATE: I've had unconfirmed reports that Susan Campbell will read her Hartford Courant tribute to George Michael on WWUH during what had been his Tuesday noon slot on 11/13. Also take the time to read Colin McEnroe's excellent blog about Evica, and while you're at it, read his obit on Mailer.
