July 29, 2025 • 29 mins
William Green, Director of Catfish Division with Alabama Farmers talks about the important role they play in Alabama’s economy. Sam Raus with Young Writers talks about the impact the upcoming Tik Tok Ban could have on our American Political discourse.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Alabama Radio Network. My name is John Mounts,
and this is August, which is National Catfish Month and
National Catfish Months. It just happens we have a lot
of catfish that comes right here for our state in Alabama.
Joining me now to talk about this is the director
of Catfish Development at the Alabama Farmers It's William Green. William,
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hey, John, Thanks appreciate you having so.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I like the fact that you know, Alabama, we're known
for our cotton, and we got some peanuts, right, and
we got a lot of lumber. But also we have
a lot of catfish. So tell me why Alabama catfish
is the best.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
So Alabama catfish really is a pretty unique opportunity for
the state of Alabama to highlight something that's grown here
that is a quality, good, clean, delicious protein. Right. If
you're able to look at the United States, catrish country
really is kind of based all in the heart of
the Southeast. Those states would be southeast in Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana,
(00:57):
and then western Alabama. You look at Alabama specifically, if
you'd draw a triangle on the map from Tuscalusa to
Livingstone to sell them a backup Tuscalusa. You would capture
all of our catfish production right there in the western
Black Bilt. That includes probably seventy or so farms, two processors,
or two feedmals.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
And when we talk about these are farm raised catfish,
not fresh caught, right, correct. And I think that's an
important distinction because a lot of the times you hear
people say, well, catfish are bottom feeders, but if you've
got one that was grown in a farm in an
environment like that, it's a clean.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
A totally different, totally different. That's a good point to
make is I usually have to create people when you
go to a restaurant or you want to cook with
the catfish at home, you think, well, I don't want
to eat something that I pull out of a river.
And like you said, people always say, hey, I don't
want a bottom feeder fish. And really, when you look
at a US farm raised catfish, it couldn't be far
from the truth. It's grown in a man made pond
with really clean fresh water, and all the feed is
(01:50):
fed from the top, so all these fish actually eat
off the surfs of the water and eat nothing off
the bottom.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
And there are some healthy benefits of consuming fish, but
specifically catfish, aren't there, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
No doubt so catfish and really, you know, just kind
of a blanket statement for fish in general. But it's
really good lean protein source. Right, if you're somebody that
counts for macros or you look at your calorie versus
protein intake, catfish is really good option there. It's a
light it's light protein, like I said, pretty good bank
for your buck there when you look at how much
protein content is in it per calorie. It's loan saturated
(02:23):
fat and it's got a moderate source of your Omega
three fatty acids and things like that. I think it
was the American Journal of Medicine recently or at least
somewhat recently released a story talking about the benefits of
eating fish or incorporating it into your diet at least
once or twice a week, and the massive benefits you
see in overall heart health, and catfish is included in that.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
And you're educating people about the importance because you're right,
there's a lot of people who have misconceptions about this
particular fish, but also there's a lot of good things
about fish as a whole. Like you said, the Omega
threes and everything else, and it's because it comes right
here from Alabama. It puts money back into our own economy.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, no doubt. So, you know, kind of the growing trend,
and I think we're all aware that is people are
more curious now and more conscious of knowing about where
their food comes from. And I think that's great. And
when you look at catfish specifically, I think that's great
for touries. Is one exactly what you said, The economy
or the economic impact there is really important. I mentioned
(03:23):
where catfish has grown in the state, and if any
of our listeners have been to West Alabama, they know
that it is not as densely populated as the rest
of the state and there's not a lot of job
opportunities over there. Catfish creates over a one hundred million
dollars of economic impact every year in Alabama and sports
something like seven hundred jobs. So it's really important on
an economic sense that we continue to buy us catfish.
(03:44):
On the other side of that too, and you know, unfortunately,
a lot of what is and I'm doing air quotes
for listeners catfish that served in the United States is
not US farm raised catfish. And that's an important distinction.
A lot of it is an imported fish that comes
from Southeast Asia and the real name is either Sway
or Pangasia or some other variant of that. But it
(04:05):
is not the same as US farm raised catfish. You know, Unfortunately,
our competitors that can import this for cheaper cost don't
have the same regulations or guidelines that are farmers ab'd buy.
So our farmers have three different government agencies that oversee
the growth and production of fish. You've got USDA that
covers the animal health side of it, You've got EPA
that looks at the water quality, and then you have
(04:25):
the Department of Commerce that make sure all of the
business deals are above board and trade and all that
is good. And like I said, unfortunately, our competitors don't
necessarily have that. So when you're looking at the US
farm raised product, you're looking at a really clean, safe,
fresh water species that's grown with no antibiotics. It's very
limited on what it's given in terms of medicine thing
(04:47):
like that, and our competitors don't necessarily have that.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mountain speaking with William Green from the
the cat A catfish director with the Alabama Farmers William,
what about how do I know? Because you talked about
how important it is to eat Alabama catfish, how do
I know that it's Alabama catfish? When I go to
the supermarket and I just pick up some package that
(05:12):
says catfish, it probably isn't ours. How do I know
that it's an Alabama catfish?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, so kind of a two part answer there. So
if you're in a restaurant, I would encourage you first
ask questions. Right as a consumer, I think it is
your right to know what you're buying. Is your right
to know what you're eating, And restaurants have to tell
you where your fish comes from. Most restaurants that they
serve Alabama catfish or US farm raised catfish, they'll have
a sign at the front, probably close to where their
(05:36):
health score is that says we probably serve US farm
raised catfish. Pretty catchy sign. You've seen it. It's red,
white and blue. You've probably seen it and never noticed it,
And now that I'm talking about it, you're going to
see it everywhere you go. Restaurants have that displayed, and
then if you go to your supermarket, your store, you
can check with either your butcher or seafood counter and
they'll direct you to directly to the fresh fish. But
(05:58):
if you're looking in the frozen section, you want to
find a little oval that says US farm raised catfish.
That farm raised is really really important because there are
some brands that are imported that may have a name
that may make you think it's US farm raised that's not.
So it's really important to ask questions.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
They're sneaky, like they like the catfish. You when it
comes to catfish, no doubt, no doubt. Well, when we
talk about catfish, you know, it's it's there's so many
different ways that's prepared here in the South or ergilly anywhere,
but especially here in the South. What are some of
your favorite ways to see catfish prepare? Breaded, you know, broiled?
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, so, typically when people hear it, and I'll kind
of peep on, like we're recording this before lunch, of
my mouth is water and already I'm not answer this question.
But typically people in the South think of your traditional
fried catfish basket, right, that really nice, light, flaky, brown,
mild flavorfish and totally right, that's probably the most common,
but there are one hundred different ways that you could
(06:51):
find catfish prepared. I'll kind of I think a two
to one a restaurant one that we cook at home
pretty good bit. But a restaurant I had over in
actually on Insissippi recently had a kind of a twist
on a crab cake and they had a US farm
raised catfish cake. It basically was a traditional crab cake,
but instead of lump crab meat, they had catfish with
(07:11):
their own house made room lights and it was outstanding.
It was an appetizer and it was so good. I
think we ordered two more as meals, so it was
really really good. As far as cooking it at home,
one of the things that I like to do. My
wife and I both work. We have three small kids,
so we're always looking for something that's easy and quick
and if we can scratch, scratch another rich or check
(07:32):
another box. We try to make it healthy. But one
of that is doing a blackened catfish filet with grits
as aside. So you get your grit start in stockpot
as that's going, then you start seasoning the fish filets.
You put it in a skillet, a little bit of
butter and then when it's done, you have something that
was quick, pretty healthy, The kids like it, we both
like it, and on top of that, it's an easy
clean up, so really really good. If anybody's interested in
(07:53):
looking at different recipes, Sweet Grown Alabama dot org. They
have several listed on their website. They also link back
to the websites that have a full encyclopedia of different
ways to cook catfish.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
And we're actually big fans of Sweet Grown Alabama. They
are a regular guest on this program when we talk
about some of the great things that we export out
of Alabama. I don't think people realize how many products
come from Alabama, including catfish, and I you know, I
knew that we had catfish, but I guess I didn't
realize like how special it was the catfish that comes
specifically from our state.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, no doubt, And we're we're proud to be a
part of Sweet Grown and it's something that is pretty
neat to know. Depending where you're listen to this, you know,
you're really pretty close to where your food has grown
and people don't think about it. Catfish is an interesting
one too, because you know a lot of what they
eat is a special formulated feed that's manufactured here in
Alabama that comes from Alabama soybeans. So it's a you know,
you're not only are you eating the homegrown fish that's
(08:48):
harvested close to where you live and it's not very
far to be shipped, but it also is eating what's
grown here in state two.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So in other words, it's like twice Alabama.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Well, speak of catfish. Catfish is holinary flexibility. There's something
called Catfish Trail. What catfish trail, So the Catfish Trail
is really cool.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Marketing plan that was put together by our partners at
the Catfish Institute. Tci's are kind of our national trade
association based out of Mississippi, and they really focused on
pushing eating catfish in a restaurant a couple of years ago.
And the Cavas Trail you can search it in your
browser and you can find it pretty easy. It's a
really nice innovative interactive map that's that's pretty cool where
(09:31):
you can find restaurants near you that serve US farm
raised catfish. But the cool part about it is not
only does it show you where the restaurants are, but
it also has a really well done four to five
minute video that highlights the families that own those restaurants,
kind of some of their recipes, the history of the restaurant.
It really does a good job showing kind of the
impact that not only fish has or catfish has on
(09:53):
the farm side, but on the restaurant side as well.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
This is a viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network.
My name is John Mountson speaking with William Green. He's
the director of Catfish with Alabama Farmers. William, we've talked
about the consumer purchasing catfish at their local grocery store.
What about restaurants Because restaurants don't go to the grocery store,
They usually get their their product, including their fish, from
a specific, specific distributor. What if you're a restaurant and
(10:17):
you want to make sure that you have you know,
Alabama catfish.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, the best best way to do it is, like
you said, go through a distributor. But on top of that,
you know, I think it is perfectly fine, and I
think the processors would be willing for you to reach
out to them directly. If you are somebody that operates
a food truck or restaurant or you're looking to get
into it, you feel free to contact me. My contact
information is pretty easy to find. Just google William Green,
Alabama Farmers and you'll find me. You feel free to
(10:41):
call me, email me, and I'll get you in touch
with the right processor over West Alabama to make sure
that you get a good fresh option.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Now, William, I talk fast. You talk really fast, William Green,
Alabama Farmers.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yes, Sir William Green, Alabama Farmers. And that is pretty funny.
I'd like to express my appreciation as another fast talker
to another.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Well, I want it before you get out of here.
I want to talk about the Catfish Farmer of the
Year program. What is this program about and is there
an award to be won?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, So the Capture from the Year is a really
good way that the southeastern states they grow catfish Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama.
It's a good way that we can recognize somebody who
has gone above and beyond in recent years or even
has been kind of a stalwart industry to that's helped
promote catfish over the years. So, like I said, good
(11:28):
way to recognize. As the ward that we give out,
these recipients kind of get a big spread in a
couple different magazines. They have a nice video that's done
over them and their family and their families operation, and
then they also get to do something we talked about
recipes earlier. You can find that on tci's website. All
of the award recipients kind of secret family recipes so
to speak, that they like to cook with their fish.
(11:49):
This year, Alabama's recipient is mister Jimbo Hall, who's a
almost three decades experience over in Greensboro running different fish farms.
He's been in pretty much every sector of the industry
and is a really well deserved ward.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
One more time, because you said William Green at Alabama Farmers,
is there another place people can go to find information
about any of the things we talked about from where
they can get it, how they can cook it, any
of that stuff you mentioned Sweet Grown Alabama. Is there
a one stop shop they should google?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Yeah, I would look up one stop shop. Go to
Sweet Grown Alabama dot org and go to the catfish page.
You'll have recipes. You'll have links over to the Catfish
Institute's website, which you can find that pretty easily by
searching Catfish Institute. If you want to go there directly.
They have Catfish Trail they have a ton of recipes,
they have Meet the Farmer, they have a lot of things.
(12:36):
So you can either go to Sweet Grown Alabama dot
org or the Catfish Institute's website.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
William Green, the director of Catfish with the Alabama Farmers,
thank you so much for joining me this week on Viewpoint.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yeah. Thanksjean, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Havving and coming up next, something that is near and
dear to the hearts of a lot of younger people
and even some older people. TikTok's US future is hanging
by a thread. With the apps nationwide band deadline looming
on September, the fifth Bite Dance is attempting a last
ditch split, launching a US only M two meter version
of TikTok amid mounting political and legal pressure. Hi again,
(13:09):
this is John Mounts and this is Viewpoint Alabama on
the Alabama Radio Network. Joining me now to talk about
the future of this popular social media app is Sam Rowse.
Sam is a David Boaz Resident writing fellow at Young
Voices and a political analyst and public relations professional. Sam,
Welcome to Viewpoint.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Thank you so much for having me on this morning.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Sam. Everybody I know is on TikTok. I'm on TikTok
the president who's sitting in the White House right now.
I'm not saying that TikTok got him there, but without TikTok,
he probably would not have won the presidential election quite
so handily. And yet it's possible that it could go away.
How is that a possibility and do we want that
to happen.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Over the past year, there was having negotiations with regards
to concerning connections between TikTok and it being based in China,
being connected to Chinese businesses, and the CCP what that
meant for American national security, And so Congress passed legislation
(14:08):
forcing the company to divest to not you know, to
companies that are not owned by China or other adversaries
in a certain time frame, otherwise it would face the ban.
But yeah, after the election, we saw that Trump was
much more supportive of TikTok than the Republican side of
(14:30):
the aisle it actually had been and ultimately has been
giving a bit of a pause based off of certain
framework within the legislation that the executive can exercise some
discretion over those legal questions around all of that, and
so it's been sitting in the wakes. Questions abound whether
or not some sort of deal will be reached, What
(14:51):
the future of it holds is really uncertain right now.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Now even if they were to divest and say another
company that is not in control by the Chinese and
I don't know that the Chinese government outright owns ByteDance,
but essentially they have input because it's a Chinese it's
a company in China, and we had another company that say,
was US based. There's no guarantee that the US based
company could still be gathering information and using it for
(15:17):
nefarious purposes, is there no?
Speaker 3 (15:19):
I think that the question at the end of the
day is not necessarily about gathering data, as all social
media platforms as you know, search engines now AI do
in order to give us the content and information that
we want and best serve us as customers. The question
is around one access to secure personal information and what
(15:44):
that means when it's in the hands of external powers,
when it's in the hands of businesses that have ties
to governments that have nefarious purposes with regards to their
opposition to the United States, but also more over, the
level of influence that these platforms can have on shaping
(16:05):
public perception, opinion, and the way in which foreign influence
campaigns can heavily warp reality in the United States have
spread a lot of information that's just simply not true,
a lot of news that is meant to divide us.
And so right now, I think that a lot of
the questions are lingering around the power which these platforms yield.
(16:27):
Not necessarily, yeah, the information that has gathered through technology
as we know tends to be the case regardless of
what platform it is or who is running the platform.
That's just kind of how a lot of these technologies work.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
And Sam, as I understand, there is TikTok is developing
an app that is meant to sign a circumvent these rules,
the M two app. How could this app redefine US
digital sovereignty.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
If we were to see a sale, if we were
to see some sort of deal that shifts power back
into the hands of the United States, that a lot
of Americans would in this space and the technology and
digital privacy space would feel a lot more really a
lot more comfort than we have in recent years, particularly
since the you know, the twenty sixteen election. There's a
lot of questions with regards to Russian bots and all
(17:17):
that scandal, and then over the past decade, questions with
regards to the influence of China, with influence of Qatar,
the influence of Iran, other countries. I think that this
would be a huge move towards, yeah, better securing our
dominance and influence over the Internet and its role in
(17:41):
you know, us being a country with free speech rights,
us being a country with contrasting viewpoints and contest of
ideas that we don't see in foreign dictatorships. It would
be a huge swing towards a more open discourse than
if it were to be in the hands of other parties.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Another thing I'm thinking about is back fifty years ago,
there was a race going on, the space race, and
everyone wanted a dominance in the space space. And of
course it was the United State, Canada, the United States,
and the Soviet Union or Russia trying to say who
can put the first satellite, who can put the first man,
who can put the first man on the moon? And
everyone was rushing and America won that and that spurred
(18:21):
a lot of development in technology and infrastructure over the
next fifty years. And now we see the new space
is the digital space, the Internet space, and I think
part of that race is who's going to control not
only cyberspace, but specifically this whole digital universe, the center
of which is social media in general and in particular TikTok.
What does this tell us this race, especially between the
(18:44):
US and China, which were already adversarial, What does it
tell us about the nature of the digital race that
the US and China are embarking upon.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Yeah, I think this is just another domain that sits alongside,
obviously the development of artificial intelligences, the use of new
and improved means of telecommunications, use of fiber optics five
G now, yeah, starlink satellites. Potentially, this is just another
(19:15):
domain in which our digital connection we are in competition
and growth and innovation. And I think that one of
the things that has has made TikTok really stand out,
as it's quickly was able to displace a huge dominance
that one or two of America's biggest firms had over
(19:37):
the social media space for a number of years by
innovating and creating the new video uh you know that algorithm.
It's just very innovative technology. So I think what this
will show if if if there, if it's offloaded into
this American format or some other deal is reached, is
(19:58):
most likely they will be can tinued updates and iterations
both to that platform and to other platforms, and that
the competition will really be centered at home and well,
I think we'll see a lot of Americans, uh try
to compete with it. I still think regardless of whether
or not a deal is made, there's going to be
an effort both by you know, Meta and Twitter and
(20:21):
other platforms that it currently exists, but also new platforms
and new entrepreneurs to try to create the next iteration
of this. Try to understand what humans has currently want
and how to serve them as customers is always front
of mind to tech innovators and I think that that
will continue. And I think these things are never stable.
(20:44):
It is always evolving on a daily basis.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mountain and speaking with Sam Rouse. He
is a David Boas Resident writing Fellow at Young Voices
about the future of social media. We're talking about TikTok,
but I guess the larger issue here is social media
as a whole. And we spoke a bit about government's involvement,
because it is the laws, the government laws that are
(21:08):
going to influence shape the way TikTok has dealt with
when we talk about the looming bands. But at the
same time, Congress always seems like it's not two steps
but ten steps behind technology in keeping up with things.
Sometimes the laws they create or archaic, sometimes that they
don't address the real issue. Oftentimes the innovators just create
ways around the laws, and the laws are ineffective. How
(21:30):
is Congress able to keep up with this to keep
our data safe and moreover, our discourse safe, because I
think there's a lot of influence being exerted by outside
forces that might not have our best interest in mind.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
One of the most important things we always reference when
considering policy regarding technology is Congress should be taking a
light touch that addresses the misuse and particularly the harms
that will see with regards to prosecuting bad actors. With
(22:07):
regards to addressing you know, disparities and access to information
and opportunity, it's really not a good idea when we
try to set up these regulatory frameworks to prevent things preemptively,
to try to intervene in, you know, the decision making
(22:28):
processes of these businesses and how they serve their customers.
I think that there's going to be a lot of
questions in the coming years regarding the role that AI
and algorithmic processes, and we're already seeing questions with regards
to dynamic pricing and other new technologies. But lawmakers are
going to try to insert their opinions on rather than
(22:50):
letting services serve the customers and address instances of you know,
serious crime, serious threats to our national security, you know,
lost loss of data, and privacy rights. I think those
are the most important things. I think that some of
these other topics are used as kind of frivolous ways
(23:11):
to wage fights between different competing factions and different competing
interests in these fields, and it ultimately does not serve
the everyday American in the way that it should.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Sam in your writings, you mentioned your solution is one
of decentralization rather than bands. Explain how decentralization would work
rather than a ban. When it comes to addressing the
concerns that we have about TikTok.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
The central question to this is the ownership of the
platform at the end of the day, and I think
that there were legitimate arguments and concerns brought about to
try to force this out of the hands of businesses
that have connections with the CCP, I have no doubt
about that. Where we're at with it now, particularly with
(23:57):
the legal questions around it, as this administry is, something
needs to be done. There needs to be an agreement made,
and as in the best interest of American consumers and
America's economy, that we see a sale made, some sort
of agreement made with regards the storing of the data,
(24:18):
the central owners of the platforms, and the connections between
the governance of the platform it being still ran by
a private company, but we know that's not exactly the
case in China right now, centering around the business dealings,
rather than continuing to go down this theoretical political path
that has just not produced the results we want to
(24:40):
see in the past year and not forced this issue
to a head in the way that it needs to be,
is probably our best way forward at this point.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Sam.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
I'm looking back at this from a historical context, and
I can remember twenty probably like twenty five years ago,
this file sharing website popped up called Napster. And if
you're not familiar, if if you're not old enough to
remember this, the concept of Napster was you had all
your music back in the day on CDs. Your whole
library was on CDs. And what you'd do is you
would upload your entire library to your local hard drive
(25:12):
on your computer, and then you had this program you
downloaded onto a computer called Napster. You would go online
to Napster and you could see everybody else who's online,
and you could see what music they had, and they
could see what music you had, and you would pick somebody, Oh,
I want Master of Puppets by Metallica, and you'd find
which one you want to be like thirty of them there,
(25:32):
and you'd find the one that had the best sample rate,
probably and maybe from a more trusted source, and then
hopefully somebody with a good connection, because you don't want
to try and download over dial up. But that's how
people were getting their music. This caused a real problem
in the recording industry because all these artists and all
of these record producers said, hey, we're not getting paid,
they're getting music for free, and so the government stepped in,
(25:54):
so we'll do something about that they shut down Napster,
and then right behind it came lime wire and they
shut that down. Right behind it came Kazah and BitTorrent
and all these other things where you were able to
share content. And the solution was nobody was getting paid.
So all of a sudden, we introduce a way for
them to monetize, for them to digitally get paid for
the music they distributed. In Lo and behold, we had iTunes,
(26:17):
and we had all of these other Sony Music and
all these other distributors that came up with, here's the
way you can pay us. You get the content, we
get the money. It's better content, we get paid. Everybody wins.
I'm wondering how long before somebody finds a business strategy
that can successfully use market forces to regulate to control
the way that we're doing social media more so than
(26:38):
what's right now just an advertiser based platform, because I've
always believed that in a situation where the product is free,
you are the product. And in that situation, people might
be unwillingly becoming losers in the equation of giving up
what is theirs to get content for their own personal enjoyment.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
By taking a lighter approach and letting these innovations, for
letting the situation play out in a way on the
digital space. You know, look, there are a lot of
people that are concerned around the information being shared, the
truthfulness of it, you know, different distortions in our political context, propaganda,
(27:20):
and so they've opted to use platforms that they think
are frankly better aligned with their values, whether that people
on the right using truth Social or other platforms like that,
or people on the left that have been moving to
Blue Sky, who have you know, a more regulated, a
more rules based platform. And ultimately that's a byproduct of
(27:45):
consumer choice and market innovation, not of government regulation trying
to dictate what the best outcome is. And I have
some concerns about that from the fracturing of society and
the polarization it can perpetuates, but it is ultimately our
choice in what products we each use and what we
are looking for as a consumer. And so I think
(28:07):
that by letting this flow through the free marketplace, and
in this case, letting the video platforms be free a
political bias, whether that be foreign or domestic, and then
flourish in the years to come, I think, yeah, we
will certainly see a lot of evolution, a lot of
change in what kind of platforms are being used, why
(28:28):
and how they best serve us, and they're you know,
continuing the conversation around how these tools play a role
in our lives and the good and bad between that.
That's fine. I think that that's a very reasonable conversation
to be had. It's a concern with yeah, government regulation
and the potential for censorship and stifling of you know,
(28:51):
business opportunity and free expression. Where this gets a really
into really concerning waters.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
It's one of those situations where when the writers, the
framers of our constitution wrote it some two hundred and
twenty five, two and fifty years ago, we just weren't
really thinking about these sort of things, and so we
have to kind of interpret it in the in where
we live now. Sam. Definitely, this is a is an
issue that we're not going to solve in the next
fifteen minutes. But I wanted to thank you so much
for being my guest and for more information on any
(29:19):
of the things we talked about. Your work is available where.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
The listeners can follow me on x at Sam Rows one,
and you can also find more of my writing on
the Young voices website.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
And Rouse is spelled rus Sam. Thank you so much
for joining me. This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama
Radio Network.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
You've been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program
from the Alabama Radio Network. The opinions expressed on Viewpoint
Alabama are not necessarily those of the staff, management, or
advertisers of this station.
This is the Alabama Radio Network. My name is John Mounts,
and this is August, which is National Catfish Month and
National Catfish Months. It just happens we have a lot
of catfish that comes right here for our state in Alabama.
Joining me now to talk about this is the director
of Catfish Development at the Alabama Farmers It's William Green. William,
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hey, John, Thanks appreciate you having so.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I like the fact that you know, Alabama, we're known
for our cotton, and we got some peanuts, right, and
we got a lot of lumber. But also we have
a lot of catfish. So tell me why Alabama catfish
is the best.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
So Alabama catfish really is a pretty unique opportunity for
the state of Alabama to highlight something that's grown here
that is a quality, good, clean, delicious protein. Right. If
you're able to look at the United States, catrish country
really is kind of based all in the heart of
the Southeast. Those states would be southeast in Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana,
(00:57):
and then western Alabama. You look at Alabama specifically, if
you'd draw a triangle on the map from Tuscalusa to
Livingstone to sell them a backup Tuscalusa. You would capture
all of our catfish production right there in the western
Black Bilt. That includes probably seventy or so farms, two processors,
or two feedmals.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
And when we talk about these are farm raised catfish,
not fresh caught, right, correct. And I think that's an
important distinction because a lot of the times you hear
people say, well, catfish are bottom feeders, but if you've
got one that was grown in a farm in an
environment like that, it's a clean.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
A totally different, totally different. That's a good point to
make is I usually have to create people when you
go to a restaurant or you want to cook with
the catfish at home, you think, well, I don't want
to eat something that I pull out of a river.
And like you said, people always say, hey, I don't
want a bottom feeder fish. And really, when you look
at a US farm raised catfish, it couldn't be far
from the truth. It's grown in a man made pond
with really clean fresh water, and all the feed is
(01:50):
fed from the top, so all these fish actually eat
off the surfs of the water and eat nothing off
the bottom.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
And there are some healthy benefits of consuming fish, but
specifically catfish, aren't there, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
No doubt so catfish and really, you know, just kind
of a blanket statement for fish in general. But it's
really good lean protein source. Right, if you're somebody that
counts for macros or you look at your calorie versus
protein intake, catfish is really good option there. It's a
light it's light protein, like I said, pretty good bank
for your buck there when you look at how much
protein content is in it per calorie. It's loan saturated
(02:23):
fat and it's got a moderate source of your Omega
three fatty acids and things like that. I think it
was the American Journal of Medicine recently or at least
somewhat recently released a story talking about the benefits of
eating fish or incorporating it into your diet at least
once or twice a week, and the massive benefits you
see in overall heart health, and catfish is included in that.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
And you're educating people about the importance because you're right,
there's a lot of people who have misconceptions about this
particular fish, but also there's a lot of good things
about fish as a whole. Like you said, the Omega
threes and everything else, and it's because it comes right
here from Alabama. It puts money back into our own economy.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, no doubt. So, you know, kind of the growing trend,
and I think we're all aware that is people are
more curious now and more conscious of knowing about where
their food comes from. And I think that's great. And
when you look at catfish specifically, I think that's great
for touries. Is one exactly what you said, The economy
or the economic impact there is really important. I mentioned
(03:23):
where catfish has grown in the state, and if any
of our listeners have been to West Alabama, they know
that it is not as densely populated as the rest
of the state and there's not a lot of job
opportunities over there. Catfish creates over a one hundred million
dollars of economic impact every year in Alabama and sports
something like seven hundred jobs. So it's really important on
an economic sense that we continue to buy us catfish.
(03:44):
On the other side of that too, and you know, unfortunately,
a lot of what is and I'm doing air quotes
for listeners catfish that served in the United States is
not US farm raised catfish. And that's an important distinction.
A lot of it is an imported fish that comes
from Southeast Asia and the real name is either Sway
or Pangasia or some other variant of that. But it
(04:05):
is not the same as US farm raised catfish. You know, Unfortunately,
our competitors that can import this for cheaper cost don't
have the same regulations or guidelines that are farmers ab'd buy.
So our farmers have three different government agencies that oversee
the growth and production of fish. You've got USDA that
covers the animal health side of it, You've got EPA
that looks at the water quality, and then you have
(04:25):
the Department of Commerce that make sure all of the
business deals are above board and trade and all that
is good. And like I said, unfortunately, our competitors don't
necessarily have that. So when you're looking at the US
farm raised product, you're looking at a really clean, safe,
fresh water species that's grown with no antibiotics. It's very
limited on what it's given in terms of medicine thing
(04:47):
like that, and our competitors don't necessarily have that.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mountain speaking with William Green from the
the cat A catfish director with the Alabama Farmers William,
what about how do I know? Because you talked about
how important it is to eat Alabama catfish, how do
I know that it's Alabama catfish? When I go to
the supermarket and I just pick up some package that
(05:12):
says catfish, it probably isn't ours. How do I know
that it's an Alabama catfish?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, so kind of a two part answer there. So
if you're in a restaurant, I would encourage you first
ask questions. Right as a consumer, I think it is
your right to know what you're buying. Is your right
to know what you're eating, And restaurants have to tell
you where your fish comes from. Most restaurants that they
serve Alabama catfish or US farm raised catfish, they'll have
a sign at the front, probably close to where their
(05:36):
health score is that says we probably serve US farm
raised catfish. Pretty catchy sign. You've seen it. It's red,
white and blue. You've probably seen it and never noticed it,
And now that I'm talking about it, you're going to
see it everywhere you go. Restaurants have that displayed, and
then if you go to your supermarket, your store, you
can check with either your butcher or seafood counter and
they'll direct you to directly to the fresh fish. But
(05:58):
if you're looking in the frozen section, you want to
find a little oval that says US farm raised catfish.
That farm raised is really really important because there are
some brands that are imported that may have a name
that may make you think it's US farm raised that's not.
So it's really important to ask questions.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
They're sneaky, like they like the catfish. You when it
comes to catfish, no doubt, no doubt. Well, when we
talk about catfish, you know, it's it's there's so many
different ways that's prepared here in the South or ergilly anywhere,
but especially here in the South. What are some of
your favorite ways to see catfish prepare? Breaded, you know, broiled?
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, so, typically when people hear it, and I'll kind
of peep on, like we're recording this before lunch, of
my mouth is water and already I'm not answer this question.
But typically people in the South think of your traditional
fried catfish basket, right, that really nice, light, flaky, brown,
mild flavorfish and totally right, that's probably the most common,
but there are one hundred different ways that you could
(06:51):
find catfish prepared. I'll kind of I think a two
to one a restaurant one that we cook at home
pretty good bit. But a restaurant I had over in
actually on Insissippi recently had a kind of a twist
on a crab cake and they had a US farm
raised catfish cake. It basically was a traditional crab cake,
but instead of lump crab meat, they had catfish with
(07:11):
their own house made room lights and it was outstanding.
It was an appetizer and it was so good. I
think we ordered two more as meals, so it was
really really good. As far as cooking it at home,
one of the things that I like to do. My
wife and I both work. We have three small kids,
so we're always looking for something that's easy and quick
and if we can scratch, scratch another rich or check
(07:32):
another box. We try to make it healthy. But one
of that is doing a blackened catfish filet with grits
as aside. So you get your grit start in stockpot
as that's going, then you start seasoning the fish filets.
You put it in a skillet, a little bit of
butter and then when it's done, you have something that
was quick, pretty healthy, The kids like it, we both
like it, and on top of that, it's an easy
clean up, so really really good. If anybody's interested in
(07:53):
looking at different recipes, Sweet Grown Alabama dot org. They
have several listed on their website. They also link back
to the websites that have a full encyclopedia of different
ways to cook catfish.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
And we're actually big fans of Sweet Grown Alabama. They
are a regular guest on this program when we talk
about some of the great things that we export out
of Alabama. I don't think people realize how many products
come from Alabama, including catfish, and I you know, I
knew that we had catfish, but I guess I didn't
realize like how special it was the catfish that comes
specifically from our state.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, no doubt, And we're we're proud to be a
part of Sweet Grown and it's something that is pretty
neat to know. Depending where you're listen to this, you know,
you're really pretty close to where your food has grown
and people don't think about it. Catfish is an interesting
one too, because you know a lot of what they
eat is a special formulated feed that's manufactured here in
Alabama that comes from Alabama soybeans. So it's a you know,
you're not only are you eating the homegrown fish that's
(08:48):
harvested close to where you live and it's not very
far to be shipped, but it also is eating what's
grown here in state two.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So in other words, it's like twice Alabama.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Well, speak of catfish. Catfish is holinary flexibility. There's something
called Catfish Trail. What catfish trail, So the Catfish Trail
is really cool.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Marketing plan that was put together by our partners at
the Catfish Institute. Tci's are kind of our national trade
association based out of Mississippi, and they really focused on
pushing eating catfish in a restaurant a couple of years ago.
And the Cavas Trail you can search it in your
browser and you can find it pretty easy. It's a
really nice innovative interactive map that's that's pretty cool where
(09:31):
you can find restaurants near you that serve US farm
raised catfish. But the cool part about it is not
only does it show you where the restaurants are, but
it also has a really well done four to five
minute video that highlights the families that own those restaurants,
kind of some of their recipes, the history of the restaurant.
It really does a good job showing kind of the
impact that not only fish has or catfish has on
(09:53):
the farm side, but on the restaurant side as well.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
This is a viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network.
My name is John Mountson speaking with William Green. He's
the director of Catfish with Alabama Farmers. William, we've talked
about the consumer purchasing catfish at their local grocery store.
What about restaurants Because restaurants don't go to the grocery store,
They usually get their their product, including their fish, from
a specific, specific distributor. What if you're a restaurant and
(10:17):
you want to make sure that you have you know,
Alabama catfish.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, the best best way to do it is, like
you said, go through a distributor. But on top of that,
you know, I think it is perfectly fine, and I
think the processors would be willing for you to reach
out to them directly. If you are somebody that operates
a food truck or restaurant or you're looking to get
into it, you feel free to contact me. My contact
information is pretty easy to find. Just google William Green,
Alabama Farmers and you'll find me. You feel free to
(10:41):
call me, email me, and I'll get you in touch
with the right processor over West Alabama to make sure
that you get a good fresh option.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Now, William, I talk fast. You talk really fast, William Green,
Alabama Farmers.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yes, Sir William Green, Alabama Farmers. And that is pretty funny.
I'd like to express my appreciation as another fast talker
to another.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Well, I want it before you get out of here.
I want to talk about the Catfish Farmer of the
Year program. What is this program about and is there
an award to be won?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, So the Capture from the Year is a really
good way that the southeastern states they grow catfish Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama.
It's a good way that we can recognize somebody who
has gone above and beyond in recent years or even
has been kind of a stalwart industry to that's helped
promote catfish over the years. So, like I said, good
(11:28):
way to recognize. As the ward that we give out,
these recipients kind of get a big spread in a
couple different magazines. They have a nice video that's done
over them and their family and their families operation, and
then they also get to do something we talked about
recipes earlier. You can find that on tci's website. All
of the award recipients kind of secret family recipes so
to speak, that they like to cook with their fish.
(11:49):
This year, Alabama's recipient is mister Jimbo Hall, who's a
almost three decades experience over in Greensboro running different fish farms.
He's been in pretty much every sector of the industry
and is a really well deserved ward.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
One more time, because you said William Green at Alabama Farmers,
is there another place people can go to find information
about any of the things we talked about from where
they can get it, how they can cook it, any
of that stuff you mentioned Sweet Grown Alabama. Is there
a one stop shop they should google?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Yeah, I would look up one stop shop. Go to
Sweet Grown Alabama dot org and go to the catfish page.
You'll have recipes. You'll have links over to the Catfish
Institute's website, which you can find that pretty easily by
searching Catfish Institute. If you want to go there directly.
They have Catfish Trail they have a ton of recipes,
they have Meet the Farmer, they have a lot of things.
(12:36):
So you can either go to Sweet Grown Alabama dot
org or the Catfish Institute's website.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
William Green, the director of Catfish with the Alabama Farmers,
thank you so much for joining me this week on Viewpoint.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yeah. Thanksjean, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Havving and coming up next, something that is near and
dear to the hearts of a lot of younger people
and even some older people. TikTok's US future is hanging
by a thread. With the apps nationwide band deadline looming
on September, the fifth Bite Dance is attempting a last
ditch split, launching a US only M two meter version
of TikTok amid mounting political and legal pressure. Hi again,
(13:09):
this is John Mounts and this is Viewpoint Alabama on
the Alabama Radio Network. Joining me now to talk about
the future of this popular social media app is Sam Rowse.
Sam is a David Boaz Resident writing fellow at Young
Voices and a political analyst and public relations professional. Sam,
Welcome to Viewpoint.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Thank you so much for having me on this morning.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Sam. Everybody I know is on TikTok. I'm on TikTok
the president who's sitting in the White House right now.
I'm not saying that TikTok got him there, but without TikTok,
he probably would not have won the presidential election quite
so handily. And yet it's possible that it could go away.
How is that a possibility and do we want that
to happen.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Over the past year, there was having negotiations with regards
to concerning connections between TikTok and it being based in China,
being connected to Chinese businesses, and the CCP what that
meant for American national security, And so Congress passed legislation
(14:08):
forcing the company to divest to not you know, to
companies that are not owned by China or other adversaries
in a certain time frame, otherwise it would face the ban.
But yeah, after the election, we saw that Trump was
much more supportive of TikTok than the Republican side of
(14:30):
the aisle it actually had been and ultimately has been
giving a bit of a pause based off of certain
framework within the legislation that the executive can exercise some
discretion over those legal questions around all of that, and
so it's been sitting in the wakes. Questions abound whether
or not some sort of deal will be reached, What
(14:51):
the future of it holds is really uncertain right now.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Now even if they were to divest and say another
company that is not in control by the Chinese and
I don't know that the Chinese government outright owns ByteDance,
but essentially they have input because it's a Chinese it's
a company in China, and we had another company that say,
was US based. There's no guarantee that the US based
company could still be gathering information and using it for
(15:17):
nefarious purposes, is there no?
Speaker 3 (15:19):
I think that the question at the end of the
day is not necessarily about gathering data, as all social
media platforms as you know, search engines now AI do
in order to give us the content and information that
we want and best serve us as customers. The question
is around one access to secure personal information and what
(15:44):
that means when it's in the hands of external powers,
when it's in the hands of businesses that have ties
to governments that have nefarious purposes with regards to their
opposition to the United States, but also more over, the
level of influence that these platforms can have on shaping
(16:05):
public perception, opinion, and the way in which foreign influence
campaigns can heavily warp reality in the United States have
spread a lot of information that's just simply not true,
a lot of news that is meant to divide us.
And so right now, I think that a lot of
the questions are lingering around the power which these platforms yield.
(16:27):
Not necessarily, yeah, the information that has gathered through technology
as we know tends to be the case regardless of
what platform it is or who is running the platform.
That's just kind of how a lot of these technologies work.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
And Sam, as I understand, there is TikTok is developing
an app that is meant to sign a circumvent these rules,
the M two app. How could this app redefine US
digital sovereignty.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
If we were to see a sale, if we were
to see some sort of deal that shifts power back
into the hands of the United States, that a lot
of Americans would in this space and the technology and
digital privacy space would feel a lot more really a
lot more comfort than we have in recent years, particularly
since the you know, the twenty sixteen election. There's a
lot of questions with regards to Russian bots and all
(17:17):
that scandal, and then over the past decade, questions with
regards to the influence of China, with influence of Qatar,
the influence of Iran, other countries. I think that this
would be a huge move towards, yeah, better securing our
dominance and influence over the Internet and its role in
(17:41):
you know, us being a country with free speech rights,
us being a country with contrasting viewpoints and contest of
ideas that we don't see in foreign dictatorships. It would
be a huge swing towards a more open discourse than
if it were to be in the hands of other parties.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Another thing I'm thinking about is back fifty years ago,
there was a race going on, the space race, and
everyone wanted a dominance in the space space. And of
course it was the United State, Canada, the United States,
and the Soviet Union or Russia trying to say who
can put the first satellite, who can put the first man,
who can put the first man on the moon? And
everyone was rushing and America won that and that spurred
(18:21):
a lot of development in technology and infrastructure over the
next fifty years. And now we see the new space
is the digital space, the Internet space, and I think
part of that race is who's going to control not
only cyberspace, but specifically this whole digital universe, the center
of which is social media in general and in particular TikTok.
What does this tell us this race, especially between the
(18:44):
US and China, which were already adversarial, What does it
tell us about the nature of the digital race that
the US and China are embarking upon.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Yeah, I think this is just another domain that sits alongside,
obviously the development of artificial intelligences, the use of new
and improved means of telecommunications, use of fiber optics five
G now, yeah, starlink satellites. Potentially, this is just another
(19:15):
domain in which our digital connection we are in competition
and growth and innovation. And I think that one of
the things that has has made TikTok really stand out,
as it's quickly was able to displace a huge dominance
that one or two of America's biggest firms had over
(19:37):
the social media space for a number of years by
innovating and creating the new video uh you know that algorithm.
It's just very innovative technology. So I think what this
will show if if if there, if it's offloaded into
this American format or some other deal is reached, is
(19:58):
most likely they will be can tinued updates and iterations
both to that platform and to other platforms, and that
the competition will really be centered at home and well,
I think we'll see a lot of Americans, uh try
to compete with it. I still think regardless of whether
or not a deal is made, there's going to be
an effort both by you know, Meta and Twitter and
(20:21):
other platforms that it currently exists, but also new platforms
and new entrepreneurs to try to create the next iteration
of this. Try to understand what humans has currently want
and how to serve them as customers is always front
of mind to tech innovators and I think that that
will continue. And I think these things are never stable.
(20:44):
It is always evolving on a daily basis.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. My
name is John Mountain and speaking with Sam Rouse. He
is a David Boas Resident writing Fellow at Young Voices
about the future of social media. We're talking about TikTok,
but I guess the larger issue here is social media
as a whole. And we spoke a bit about government's involvement,
because it is the laws, the government laws that are
(21:08):
going to influence shape the way TikTok has dealt with
when we talk about the looming bands. But at the
same time, Congress always seems like it's not two steps
but ten steps behind technology in keeping up with things.
Sometimes the laws they create or archaic, sometimes that they
don't address the real issue. Oftentimes the innovators just create
ways around the laws, and the laws are ineffective. How
(21:30):
is Congress able to keep up with this to keep
our data safe and moreover, our discourse safe, because I
think there's a lot of influence being exerted by outside
forces that might not have our best interest in mind.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
One of the most important things we always reference when
considering policy regarding technology is Congress should be taking a
light touch that addresses the misuse and particularly the harms
that will see with regards to prosecuting bad actors. With
(22:07):
regards to addressing you know, disparities and access to information
and opportunity, it's really not a good idea when we
try to set up these regulatory frameworks to prevent things preemptively,
to try to intervene in, you know, the decision making
(22:28):
processes of these businesses and how they serve their customers.
I think that there's going to be a lot of
questions in the coming years regarding the role that AI
and algorithmic processes, and we're already seeing questions with regards
to dynamic pricing and other new technologies. But lawmakers are
going to try to insert their opinions on rather than
(22:50):
letting services serve the customers and address instances of you know,
serious crime, serious threats to our national security, you know,
lost loss of data, and privacy rights. I think those
are the most important things. I think that some of
these other topics are used as kind of frivolous ways
(23:11):
to wage fights between different competing factions and different competing
interests in these fields, and it ultimately does not serve
the everyday American in the way that it should.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Sam in your writings, you mentioned your solution is one
of decentralization rather than bands. Explain how decentralization would work
rather than a ban. When it comes to addressing the
concerns that we have about TikTok.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
The central question to this is the ownership of the
platform at the end of the day, and I think
that there were legitimate arguments and concerns brought about to
try to force this out of the hands of businesses
that have connections with the CCP, I have no doubt
about that. Where we're at with it now, particularly with
(23:57):
the legal questions around it, as this administry is, something
needs to be done. There needs to be an agreement made,
and as in the best interest of American consumers and
America's economy, that we see a sale made, some sort
of agreement made with regards the storing of the data,
(24:18):
the central owners of the platforms, and the connections between
the governance of the platform it being still ran by
a private company, but we know that's not exactly the
case in China right now, centering around the business dealings,
rather than continuing to go down this theoretical political path
that has just not produced the results we want to
(24:40):
see in the past year and not forced this issue
to a head in the way that it needs to be,
is probably our best way forward at this point.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Sam.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
I'm looking back at this from a historical context, and
I can remember twenty probably like twenty five years ago,
this file sharing website popped up called Napster. And if
you're not familiar, if if you're not old enough to
remember this, the concept of Napster was you had all
your music back in the day on CDs. Your whole
library was on CDs. And what you'd do is you
would upload your entire library to your local hard drive
(25:12):
on your computer, and then you had this program you
downloaded onto a computer called Napster. You would go online
to Napster and you could see everybody else who's online,
and you could see what music they had, and they
could see what music you had, and you would pick somebody, Oh,
I want Master of Puppets by Metallica, and you'd find
which one you want to be like thirty of them there,
(25:32):
and you'd find the one that had the best sample rate,
probably and maybe from a more trusted source, and then
hopefully somebody with a good connection, because you don't want
to try and download over dial up. But that's how
people were getting their music. This caused a real problem
in the recording industry because all these artists and all
of these record producers said, hey, we're not getting paid,
they're getting music for free, and so the government stepped in,
(25:54):
so we'll do something about that they shut down Napster,
and then right behind it came lime wire and they
shut that down. Right behind it came Kazah and BitTorrent
and all these other things where you were able to
share content. And the solution was nobody was getting paid.
So all of a sudden, we introduce a way for
them to monetize, for them to digitally get paid for
the music they distributed. In Lo and behold, we had iTunes,
(26:17):
and we had all of these other Sony Music and
all these other distributors that came up with, here's the
way you can pay us. You get the content, we
get the money. It's better content, we get paid. Everybody wins.
I'm wondering how long before somebody finds a business strategy
that can successfully use market forces to regulate to control
the way that we're doing social media more so than
(26:38):
what's right now just an advertiser based platform, because I've
always believed that in a situation where the product is free,
you are the product. And in that situation, people might
be unwillingly becoming losers in the equation of giving up
what is theirs to get content for their own personal enjoyment.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
By taking a lighter approach and letting these innovations, for
letting the situation play out in a way on the
digital space. You know, look, there are a lot of
people that are concerned around the information being shared, the
truthfulness of it, you know, different distortions in our political context, propaganda,
(27:20):
and so they've opted to use platforms that they think
are frankly better aligned with their values, whether that people
on the right using truth Social or other platforms like that,
or people on the left that have been moving to
Blue Sky, who have you know, a more regulated, a
more rules based platform. And ultimately that's a byproduct of
(27:45):
consumer choice and market innovation, not of government regulation trying
to dictate what the best outcome is. And I have
some concerns about that from the fracturing of society and
the polarization it can perpetuates, but it is ultimately our
choice in what products we each use and what we
are looking for as a consumer. And so I think
(28:07):
that by letting this flow through the free marketplace, and
in this case, letting the video platforms be free a
political bias, whether that be foreign or domestic, and then
flourish in the years to come, I think, yeah, we
will certainly see a lot of evolution, a lot of
change in what kind of platforms are being used, why
(28:28):
and how they best serve us, and they're you know,
continuing the conversation around how these tools play a role
in our lives and the good and bad between that.
That's fine. I think that that's a very reasonable conversation
to be had. It's a concern with yeah, government regulation
and the potential for censorship and stifling of you know,
(28:51):
business opportunity and free expression. Where this gets a really
into really concerning waters.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
It's one of those situations where when the writers, the
framers of our constitution wrote it some two hundred and
twenty five, two and fifty years ago, we just weren't
really thinking about these sort of things, and so we
have to kind of interpret it in the in where
we live now. Sam. Definitely, this is a is an
issue that we're not going to solve in the next
fifteen minutes. But I wanted to thank you so much
for being my guest and for more information on any
(29:19):
of the things we talked about. Your work is available where.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
The listeners can follow me on x at Sam Rows one,
and you can also find more of my writing on
the Young voices website.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
And Rouse is spelled rus Sam. Thank you so much
for joining me. This is Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama
Radio Network.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
You've been listening to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program
from the Alabama Radio Network. The opinions expressed on Viewpoint
Alabama are not necessarily those of the staff, management, or
advertisers of this station.
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