To What End?

Where are we heading?

Photo by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash

Back in the day, one of the biggest sins we could commit when learning to use field radio was to stay on “transmit”. Everybody could hear us, but we couldn’t hear them, and were happily oblivious.

The thought crossed my mind as I listened to antagonists and protagonists (choose your own) in the current festival of strikes being interviewed. There seems to be a ritual; the interviewer doesn’t listen to the person they are interviewing, who in turn doesn’t listen to them. Both are stuck on “transmit” to get the most air time of a ten-minute (at most) slot. Then, after a break for trivia, the other side gets a turn. Again, they don’t listen to the interviewer or the interview with the other side, and the interviewer doesn’t listen to them. It’s all about personal airtime, not clarity or resolution.

A modern take on the Coliseum.

“To what end?” I wonder. All of those being interviewed, as well as the interviewer, are intermediaries. They are professional …