What
a show - public money & private lives!
"Thaaththa," Bindu Udagedera asked, "what is on TV
today?"
"I am not sure," Percy said, "I don't think they
show teledramas any more…"
"Why do you say that?"
"Why, Bindu, when we wanted to watch a drama last week they
suddenly showed the story of a lady and a politician…"
"At
first I thought that was a teledrama too…" Bindu said,
"and the storyline was certainly more exciting than some of
our real teledramas…"
"But now we know that it was not a teledrama…" Percy
observed.
"But thaaththa," Bindu was puzzled, "who sponsored
this show on prime time television? Surely, someone has to pay for
it?"
"You and me…" Percy declared.
"How
can you say that?" Bindu asked, surprised.
"Why, Bindu this was shown on state television. So, if someone
is not sponsoring the program me then it is the average citizen
who is paying for it because it is government money that is being
spent on it…"
"But we don't want our money spent on learning about the private
lives of politicians…" Bindu protested.
"Why
not, Bindu?" Percy wanted to know. "This is apparently
what the government means by media freedom-the freedom to know everything
about everybody…"
"But thaaththa, we still don't know whether this story that
they broadcast last week is true or not…" Bindu pointed
out.
"But we can be happy about something…" Percy said.
"And what is that?"
"Why,
Bindu, whenever there is a shortage of good quality teledramas,
someone can always pick on a politician with an interesting private
life and produce an interesting program, like they did last week…"
"But thaaththa," Bindu asked, "are there that many
politicians with such interesting private lives?"
"I am sure they can find quite a few to keep us entertained…"
Percy said.
"Why do you say that?"
"Well I can certainly think of one…"
"And who is that?"
"Why,
Archimedes…" Percy recalled.
"Who is Archimedes?" Bindu was puzzled.
"Why, Bindu he is the man who ran naked out of his own ministry.
Of course he didn't say 'Eureka, Eureka' because he didn't discover
anything; it was he who was discovered by someone else…"
"And where is he now?" Bindu queried.
"Ah,
he is back at the same ministry so we can expect another episode
before long…"
"But thaaththa," Bindu was not convinced, "should
we show such stories on television? After all, what politicians
do with their lives is their own business as long as they don't
spend public money on their private matters…"
"But Bindu," Percy pointed out, "the government seems
to think that politicians' private lives are so important that they
should spend public money making television programmes about them…"
"But
thaaththa," Bindu protested, "the government is headed
by a person who sued a newspaper for saying she went to a party…"
"Ah," Percy said, "that is indeed the moral of the
story…"
"And what is that?" Bindu asked.
"People
in glass houses shouldn't throw stones…"
"Or shall we say people in glass palaces shouldn't throw stones…"
"I won't disagree with that either…" Percy said. |
