"I would never say that any artist had to be open to the songs of other points of view only that being balanced was healthy for folk music in general over the long haul."

So you must think that people like Francis Child was being fair and balanced with his collection? Do you honestly believe that collectors of folk songs weren't filtering their work through their own moral beliefs?

Conrad brings up a point about seeing beauty in a painting of Christ by the old masters, yet at the same time he is not allowing himself to see the same beauty in a protest song.   You let the politics cloud your artistic sensibilities.

Conrad also asks the question of whether or not the Smothers Brothers denied airtime to pro-war songs. That completely misses the point. The idea of presenting opposing views is not the responsibility of the person standing on the soapbox, it is the responsibility of those who provide the soapbox to stand on.

To be honest, CBC had every right to decide what to allow on their network - the issue wasn't free speech but rather censorship.