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Is Agenda Bad For Discussion

September 16, 2023

The studio was full of people and the host was mentally preparing for the cameras to go live. The cameras started rolling which filled the room with tension. And the producers behind the cameras started counting the count-down. The host touched his tie in a nervous manner, to make sure that it sits nicely. The countdown went - "5 - 4 - 3 - ..." - from that point on, the producers counted only with their fingers, to avoid accidentally being heard counting on the broadcast itself. They showed 2, then 1 and then pointed to the host, which meant that it's the time to start.

The host addressed the camera with the most charisma that he could possible give - "Welcome back to 'Let's Argue'. A show where people argue about absolutely anything.". At this moment one of the producers which looked intensely into a monitor raised his hand in a gesture to keep holding. The host understood this gesture. It means that there are not enough people right now watching this broadcast. And what he needed to do, was to keep taking nonsense to entertain the few live audience and those watching the recording, until the right amount of people will show up.

The host said - "In front of me there are two exceptional people. Miss Goldberg here for example, a director of such classics as 'I'm Not Even Human' and the rather under-rated 'The Package, The Car & The Time is Running Out'. A first best director nominee under 18 years of age, with her film 'Sinking In The Fire' which was shot, believe it or not, when she was 10 years old."

"9" - corrected Miss Goldberg - "It was released when I was 10. But most of the production was made when I was still 9.". The host made a stupid face and a "Hmm..." sound while the public laughed at him. The producer nodded affirmatively. There were now enough viewers, so he could start the game itself. The host continued talking - "On the other side we have a father of a child prodigy, a businessman and as I understand a friend of Miss Goldberg, Mr Paps Baalhagola. Who's daughter shocked everybody with her exceptional driving skills on the track in Dune Town.".

"We are not friends, we are partners." - said Miss Goldberg. The crowd roared. What could that mean? The host caught the question in the air and asked - "Partners of what kind?" - rather awkwardly. "Business!" - exclaimed Miss.

"Anyway to the game!" - said the host rising himself and talking to the camera - "For those of you who don't know the rules, the game is rather simple. The viewers, yourself, will vote on a topic to be asked from the two participants in the room. The topic could be absolutely anything. One of the participants, using random chance, will need to defend the topic at hand, while the other to debunk it". The host pointed to the right, where a group of three smart looking people sat at a special table with red buttons. He continued - "These are our sanity jury. If they observe an increase in anxiety among the participants. Those on the other side of the argument will get points. The game is not to prove their positions, but to speak in a civilized manner. The one that gets the most points by the end of the show, wins.".

The host looked at the camera, while it started zooming on him - "Ladies, Gentlemen and viewers of all kinds: Please Vote! You can do that through any comment server federated with Madiator dot com. Or using our matrix room. And while the vote will keep going, I think we are going to get a word from out sponsor, which are you guys." - and he looked at Miss Goldberg.

"Announce it, Sheiny!" - angrily said Mr. Baalhagola. Sheina Goldberg looked at the camera and said - "My business with Mr. Paps Baalhagola here is a movie project about his daughter, Moria. And it will be called..."

_________




While in the fictional world where Sheiny and Paps live, Sheiny is the director of "Moria's Race", in reality, the burden of making this film is entirely upon me. Moria's Race is a challenging movie. I work on it since the beginning of 2020 and still didn't finish it. There were things of which I am guilty, that stretched the production. There were things out of my control. And there are problems that are maybe caused by me, and ultimately perhaps solvable by me, but which are hard to solve.

I don't know if I need weekends, or I just have a bi-polar disorder. With the bi-polar disorder you have times of inspiration and awesomeness and then also times of desperation and depression. And I observe these symptoms with me constantly. It is believed that bi-polar disorder is a common trait among creative people. And that, what writers call "The Writer's Block" is just the depressive part of the bi-polar cycle.

On the other hand the way the writer's block manifest itself in me feels more like a description of ADHD than depression. Though maybe I have both. Maybe I'm a soup of all of the known and unknown mental illnesses.

Anyway, for the last few weeks or so ( roughly since I watched The Fabelmans in the cinema ) I've experienced a kind of intense writer's block which manifested itself in my utter inability to concentrate. At first I just thought I was upset by Steven Spielberg making a movie about himself which becomes popular. While I have less than a hundred views on a teaser for Moria's Race. Then I thought that I've overdosed on caffeine, but since then I didn't drink no coffee and the feeling is still here.

Yesterday, because of how depressed I was, I decided to depress myself even more and go to see Avatar 2 in 3D. Which I did. And I sat miserably through the ads. Until the movie began. And towards the end of the movie I started feeling a bit better.

Now looking at some cool renders from Moria's Race I can tell you that my movie is nowhere near Avatar 2. But for some reason it doesn't depress me as much. Perhaps I'm recovering from my bi-polar depressive state.

I don't know if I am going to stream today or even tomorrow. The other thing that might have happened was that I was just working too much. And that means that I have to give myself breaks. I think to have weekends as weekends. And only stream during the work week. Will see. But anyway...




Click on my dumb face to get to the livestream's page





___________

"And the vote comes down to the end. We have 50 thous.. 52 thousand votes for 'Is Agenda Bad For Discussion?' and 45 thousand for 'Should Disinformation Be Banned?'... Two seconds left, one..." - said the host with his eyes bulging out as if he sees something too exiting. Of course he was faking it.

But anyway "Is Agenda Bad For Discussion?" won the vote. Perhaps people didn't have as much question about that disinformation, even intentional, is still a part of free speech. But Agendas. That perhaps made people a bit more worried.

The host looked at Mr. Paps Baalhagola and said - "We gonna start with Paps Baalhagola defending Agenda, while..." - he now looked at Miss Sheina Goldberg - "... Miss Sheina Goldberg will try to argue against it. Go!"

"What is 'Agenda'?" - asked Mr. Baalhagola, which made the whole crowd laugh.

"You can think of it as a plan to prove a particular point of view." - said Miss Goldberg.

"So my agenda is to promote agenda right now?" - he asked.

"Yes. And mine, unfortunately, is to make agenda sound as a bad idea." - said Sheina.

"But can we argue about it without having agendas in the first place?" - said Paps Baalhagola being all proud of himself for being so clever so early.

"How about that?" - asked Sheina - "We can talk about it. You may even convince me that it's okay. I will try not to hold an agenda against agenda."

"This is weird." - said Paps - "Okay... You start."

"We know a method for truth-seeking." - said Sheina.

"And what is it? Speech?"

"Science! Speech is a good tool to have conversations. Conversations about anything at all. But if we want to have answers for practical problems, science is the best tool."

"So like asking a professor of some kind?" - asked Mr. Baalhagola foolishly.

"No. Making experiments and observing results." - said Sheina - "This implies that we don't know the results in the first place. The whole point is to try and find out what those results are."

"Okay. But you do know sometimes. Don't you? Like... Where you are headed..." - asked Paps - "Like. I want to make a faster car. I know that I will make a faster car by the end of the process. And I experiment to see which things get me to a faster car. Using science. Isn't trying to make the car faster an agenda of a kind?"

"Well..." - said Sheina with a thought - "... what you are describing is not science. It's engineering."

"Really?" - asked Paps - "But wait the second. Isn't engineering a science?"

Sheiny slowly breathed in and out while pretending to think. Then she said - "Science tries to answer the question of what is reality. While engineering, uses science, to answer any number of practical questions. For example the question of what makes a car faster."

"Then, the agenda of science is truth?" - said Paps, which sent a gasp through the crowd.

"Perhaps I made myself unclear." - said Sheina - "I meant to say that science is not trying to prove a point of view. While Agenda is an attempt to prove a point of view."

"Okay..." - said Paps thoughtfully, trying not to give out his slight anxiety. He sat there and thought for a bit. Then he said - "Engineering is not trying to prove a point of view either. It tries to reach a goal."

"Isn't an attempt to prove a point of view is an attempt to reach a goal?" - asked Sheina - "A goal being, the point of view proven."

"So then an agenda is an attempt to reach a goal of any kind?" - asked Paps.

"Hmm..." - said Sheina thinking about it - "Okay. For example, some political party somewhere has an agenda to legalize X. Whatever it might be. That would fall under your definition of a goal of any kind. Since it's not only speaking that they need to do, to achieve the goal."

"Right."

"Yes. But, does this kind of planned discussion serves any truth?"

"Eeee... Mmmm..." - mumbled Paps - "Is truth relevant here?"

"Why wouldn't it be relevant?"

"Opinions matter."

"Even if they are false?"

"Where is Free Speech if you can't say lies?!" - screamed Paps without noticing.

One of the sanity judges pressed a button and a screen above Sheina showed that she has one point now. Paps looked at it with a frown.

"You are loosing!" - said Sheina. To which Paps answered with a an angry - "Hmm!" - and Sheina got another point.

"I want to ask you a question." - said Sheina, knowing that Paps is now angry and she can use it to gain some more points - "You have children. What if somebody spoke with an agenda to legalize pedophilia for example?"

Paps looked at her at first with anger, than smiled and then half cried and half laughed for a few seconds. A button was pressed again. Sheina now had 3 points. Paps said - "Am I supposed to still defend it?" - looking at the host. The host said - "Yes. This is kind of the point of the game."

"This game is kind of stupid!" - said Paps in such a tone that gave Miss Goldberg another point.

"Well..." - said the host in the charismatic manner - "... the point is not in proving the point. What she said, or whatever you say is irrelevant to the game."

Sheina looked at Paps with a different look. This time speaking with a tone of friendship, she said - "Paps, the point of the game is to learn to control Adrenalin rushes when discussing controversial topics. Adrenalin makes you stupider."

"I know, I know... I saw your show once." - said Paps - "It's hard. H... How are you doing it?"

"Experience." - said Sheina - "Paps. Try not to think too hard about real life. We are just discussing ideas. That should help."

"Okay." - said Mr. Baalhagola - "What was your question again?"

"Wait!" - said the host. Both Miss Goldberg and Mr. Baalhagola looked at him. She understood what happened. He didn't. The host continued - "There is another rule to the game which I didn't tell you. But which you know if you have watched the show."

The host made an epic pause. The lights switched in a dramatic way. Mr. Baalhagola didn't know what happens. The one time he saw the show, he didn't get to this part of the game. The host continued - "To make things interesting, during each session, right in the middle, the sides switch. Which means, that you, Mr. Baalhagola will now argue against Agenda, and you Miss Goldberg will argue for it."

"Thank god!" - exclaimed Paps. While Sheina just smiled at him.

"Go!" - said the host.

"So we continue from the last question you've asked me?" - said Paps - "Okay. I think it's wrong to speak with such agendas as this."

"Why?" - said Sheina smiling.

"What why? It's just wrong. We should not promote wrong things?"

"What about free speech?"

Paps took a deep breath. The jury looked at each other trying to decide if this was enough to press the button. But they all ultimately decided that they will give him a chance, since he was new to the game.

"So you are telling me that if somebody wants to hurt people, they should hurt people?" - said Paps.

"No!"

"What no?"

Sheiny pointed at the jury. Paps looked at them. He though about the manner with which he said "What no?" and that they already were prepared to press the button again. He closed his eyes and slowly rotated his head to face Sheina. Then he opened his eyes and trying to hold his voice under control asked her this - "What exactly do you mean to tell me?"

"I mean to tell you that people should be free to express any opinion. Planned or not planned. Which means agendas are an integral part of Freedom of Speech."

"Okay." - said Paps trying to hold himself together. And speaking slowly, thinking about everything he says, he said - "But if we take into consideration only Freedom of speech. Then yes. I suppose. People should be able to say what they like. But agendas are plans of any kind. The political movement you've described, which upset me and gave you points, will try doing other things to get towards their goal. Isn't it?"

"There are many roads to any destination." - said Sheina - "There could be problems with the roads themselves. But the destination could be arrived at in a correct an civilized manner. Many disputes between countries ended with war, which was not the best way to ending them. But many ended with diplomatic discussion. The agendas could be the same. And we are talking around here about the agendas. About the existence of a goal. Not methods of achieving it."

"But..." - said Paps - "In the case that you are describing, the goal itself is terrible."

"If we are not allowing people to form goals since we think they are terrible, we are forming thought police."

"But this is an exception to the rule."

"There is no exception to the rule."

"But what if they gonna win?" - asked Paps.

"Okay." - said Miss Goldberg - "I see your point here. Let's say somebody had an agenda which tries to promote censorship, for example. Because quite frankly, in my opinion this a much worse of a crime than pedophilia."

"What!" - screamed Mr Baalhagola. The jury pressed the button and Sheina had yet another point.

"Got you!" - she smiled - "Are you okay?"

"No! I'm not okay! What do you mean by what you just said?" - Paps gave Sheina another point.

"Do you really want to go down that rabbit-hole?" - she asked him pointing at the points counter.

Paps calmed himself down and said - "I don't care about the score."

"You seem like you do."

"I know that there is nothing you can say to prove yourself."

"I can say a bunch of things to destabilize you and that will give me points."

"So what?"

"Okay. We are going down that rabbit-hole."

The producer looked at the screen observing the reactions and the numbers on his charts. His eyes popped out. Everybody expressed some kind of hate. And people were joining just to do so. The ratings of the show grew very rapidly. People seemed to be drawn to discussions about sensitive things.

He looked at the host. But the host didn't need his instructions. He knew what to do.

"Ladies, Gentleman and viewers of all kinds. The following discussion might be of a disturbing nature. I know a lot of you love these kinds of things. Dark things. True crime. Cannibalism. Pedophilia. But those of you with sensitive hearts. Please think twice before continuing. I have to warn you that the next rabbit-hole might go into very dark places indeed.".

"So you are claiming that raping children is okay?" - asked Paps Baalhagola trying to hold himself as much as possible.

"No. I don't." - said Sheiny - "Because I don't think any involuntary action is good."

"Are you trying to confuse me?"

"No I don't."

"What then?"

"I'm arguing for freedom."

"Freedom of what. Of having sex with a child?"

"No. Of having sex with an adult. When you are a child."

Paps got pale but tried not to make it noticeable. The jury couldn't see it from where they sat.

"This is harmful." - said Paps - "Very, very harmful."

"Yes it is. But so are cigarettes, alcohol, proprietary software, drugs, driving a car and most other things in live."

"This is not on the same level!" - said Paps shaking his head.

"Let's break it down. Shall we?" - said Sheina - "I have a first hand experience in such matters. You probably know the story of how I got money to shoot 'Sinking In The Fire'. If you don't I documented it in my book Sheiny The Hacker. I know it's a shameless plug. But still. I was selling porn. You know. Porn with myself in it. You know. When I was 9 years old."

"I know that. And I'm sorry for that." - said Paps.

"It was sometimes emotionally disturbing." - said Sheina - "When you are a part of a crime syndicate, you are not getting away from things that are disturbing."

"I am not talking about this kind of disturbing."

"Nobody raped me a single time when I did those movies."

"You got lucky."

"I see. You think that I'm some kind of an exception to the rule?"

"Yes. Most kids who go through that suffer immensely."

"You are absolutely right."

"So where is your argument then?"

"Well I have two arguments."

"Which are?"

"One that since I didn't suffer on the sexual front, the suffering occurs not to 100% of us."

"Still 99.9% of kids suffer."

"I would suggest it's something around 90%."

"What difference does it make?"

"There is the other 10% that do not suffer it."

Paps stopped to think about it and his eyes got wet.

"The other argument is that I don't think it matters." - said Sheina.

Paps looked at her completely miserably. He was constantly looking at the jury. They were about to press the buttons again.

"What do you mean, doesn't matter?" - he cried. The jury pressed the button.

Sheina looked at the jury with a smile. Then back at Paps and continued - "You know the story about a guy who wanted to be eaten?"

"What?" - cried Paps, adding another point to Sheina's score.

"Long time ago there were news about a man willingly going to another man asking the other to eat him. All of the consent gathering ritual and subsequent eating was documented on video. And in court there was a big debate about whether it was just or unjust to do what the cannibal did."

"What? Of course this was unjust. What the fuck?" - cried Paps, adding yet another point to Sheina.

"Focus, you dumbass! You are loosing points. You haven't won even a single time."

"I don't care."

"Okay. Should I continue?"

Paps starred at her for some time.

"I will continue..." - said Sheina - "The law is built on the basis of freedom. All men are created equal and so on and so forth. Everybody has a right to choose what they want to believe in, how they gonna live and what they want to do with themselves. Tyrannical governments are opposing this idea. Therefor they are tyrannical. Yes, you may observe that let's say killing a person or eating a person or having sex with a person might be also in opposition with their freedom. Nobody wants to die, right? Well, if that was true, nobody would commit suicide ever."

"So you are saying that it's okay to kill people who want to commit suicide instead of helping them?"

"People may change their mind and if you want to try convincing them to stay alive it's your right to try it. But forcing them to stay alive is an injustice against them, if they truly want to die. Of course they cannot force you to kill them either. You have your own freedom."

"But if my Moria wants to, god forbid, if she wants to..."

One more point went to Sheina.

"Does she?"

"What?"

"Does Moria want's to commit suicide?" - asked Sheina.

"No... I'm talking about... You know... The sex thing."

"Well, if she truly wants to do that and you force her not to have it it's an injustice. Of course with these kinds of matters there is a caveat. For that man to be eaten, somebody else should have agreed to eat him. If she wants to have sex, she cannot just force somebody to do it with her. That other somebody has to agree to do that with her too."

Paps sat low in his chair, totally emotionally crushed. He just gave up.

"Paps?" - said Sheiny anxiously.

"Yes..." - said Paps from within some deep depression.

"Are you okay? Or I fucked your brain a little too much?"

"You fucked my brain a little too much."

"So should we return perhaps to the topic of agenda?"

"No. I think you've won already. What does it matter?"

Sheiny looked at the host and asked him - "Can we change the rules for once to be about actually wining the argument? No matter how angry we get. It hurts to see him in such a vulnerable state."

The host looked at the producer. The producer, observing the reactions on various charts thought about what she said and gave the host a bit thumbs up. The host looked at the camera and said - "Due to the psychological state of Mr. Paps Baalhagola, we will change the rules of the game just this once. Sheina, what topic do you want to talk about? You have opened two."

"Agenda!" - screamed Paps Baalhagola - "Agenda! I don't want the other thing."

"Okay" - said the host - "What side are you choosing?"

"Ah... The side that's going to win!"

"But, you have to choose one side."

"Ah... then I want to be pro-agenda."

"Okay. Ready?... Go!"

Sheiny looked at Paps smiling - "Agendas are bad because... I don't know."

Paps said - "I hate you."

"Thank you very much." - said Sheiny.

"Free Speech, god damn it. Okay whatever. People should be able to have any goal they like. As long as they try to achieve it in a civilized way. Or something."

"I agree." - said Sheina and then winked at the host. The host at fist didn't know what to do. And then he remembered the new rules. So he quickly adjusted himself and said - "Ah... The winner is Mr. Paps Baalhagola."

Happy Hacking!

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