OPINION

Going off the shallow end

For many days now, statements have dropped like bombs one after the other, with quite a few shocking ones in the brief intervals between them, just to keep us on our toes. Television viewers, nearly as shocked as the politicians when they say they are deeply moved, hang on the words of the so-called analysts who have camped in the television studios like Dimitris Koufodinas did on Angistri. And they are all shipwrecked together in a perpetual sea of superficiality while supposedly solving the riddles set by the Korydallos inmates. Of course, the prisoners live in Greece too, so they know how easy it is to blow something out of proportion with the help of television’s magnifying glass and how easy it is to make a weapon of terrorist gabble and to attain the status of key players, if not the guardians of political life. Besides, with their long experience in the techniques of propaganda, thanks to which they covered crime in the mantle of a vision, they know very well how to sow confusion and disorient people. Their servants are those who willingly hasten (in a frivolous attempt to make an impression, or driven by murkier aims) to uncover the complete truth in statements which have obviously been made for the sole purpose of causing confusion and exerting pressure in a obscure trade-off that will last a long time. Lawyers have pride of place in the chorus of television rhetoricians, and some of them show by their attitude that they cannot live up to their role. So we’ve seen even lawyers’ offices being turned into television studios, with the attorney speaking «confidentially» with the prisoner in front of the cameras. The lawyer in question may well feel as if he is acting in a TV serial and enjoy the sudden glory, but this scene – which dumbfounded those who insist on behaving in old-fashioned ways – has already gone down in mini-history as an image of postmodern superficiality and highly dangerous shallowness.

Subscribe to our Newsletters

Enter your information below to receive our weekly newsletters with the latest insights, opinion pieces and current events straight to your inbox.

By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.