Monday, October 13, 2014

Debate or Shouting Match?



Watched a Newhour Debate this morning. It was a 2-3 days old episode and the discussion was about India's retaliation against Pakistani aggression or ceasefire violations on the border. I made the following observations;

  1. Having a different set of representatives from Pakistan was a welcome change. Most people have got bored of listening to the same set of representatives (usually Syed Tariq Pirzada, Gen. Rashid Qureshi and Zafar Hilali), who seldom make any sense and indulge in rhetoric only. This time Abida Hussain, Air Marshal Masood Akhtar, Brigadier Javed Husain were invited to present Pakistan's views
  2. I could not watch the entire debate as it became increasingly irritating after a few minutes. Two out of three Pakistani guests were not making much sense. Brig. Javed Husain had probably come to the show after watching a couple of Pakistani versions of Sunny Deol movies as he was overexcited and was not making much sense. Abida Hussain, on the other hand, tried to divert the topic and starting talking about the human tragedies. These did contribute to the irritation but the main cause was something (or rather, someone) else
  3. Arnab Goswami was highly irritating during this debate. Several people find him loud and irritating on most debates but not me. I have started to find him irritating only recently. On this occasion, he was not letting Air Marshal Masood Akhtar to speak much. I do not think that anyone can justify what Pakistan is up to. Yet, the Air Marshal was speaking sanely. He was not only talking from Pakistan's point of view and was being quite reasonable. But, Arnab Goswami did not allow him to put forward his opinion. Arnab kept interrupting. What is the point of watching a debate if one gets to hear only one side. Of course the other side would have blabbered and given shitty responses. But then, Arnab and others could have countered the Pakistani guests and cornered them. He was extremely unfair to Air Marhal Masood Akhtar and that made me switch to some other video. Off late, Newhour Debates have become quite boring. 

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