I just got through listening to the latest round of university presidents who appeared before the House Unamerican Activities subCommittee. Past performances were debacles; I knew that, but these people clearly did not. I have concluded that university presidents are masochists.
I listened to the performance of the Northwestern president. He was humiliated by an Unamerican subCommittee Member from Indiana. The Northwestern guy was interrupted and badgered and ... let it happen. It was clear that he had not been prepped to be a witness. Witness preparation in its simplest form means that the witness is prepared for her or his appearance as a witness.
There are two ways of replying to questions. One is to keep silent and hear the questioner out without interrupting. This may work in academic and other circles; the Northwestern guy did not have much luck with this approach, although he seems to have tried.
The other way of replying to questions at a forum like the Unamerican subCommittee is to understand why the questioners are performing as they do. They are there to make sound bites. They are not there to get answers. They are there only to make video points.
Understanding that this is that kind of a forum leads us to the second way to reply to questions at this forum. Since they only want to make videos and sound bites, let there be a video and let there be sound bites in which you refuse to be interrupted. If they talk over you, then talk over them. That should be the only recording that they make at your expense.
Alternatively, you can Reply calmly and steadily: "Who do you think you're talking to?" Or words of like kind and nature.
Otherwise, you're a masochist. And the next time it happens, the House Unamerican Affairs subCommittee rides again—and the saddle is on your back along with the "kick me" sign you provided them.
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