Friday, March 20, 2009

VHEMT on Italian TV show Tatami

On March 19th, 2009, I was a remote guest via satellite link with a TV program in Rome. The show is edited to give the impression that it's live in real time: air date 22 March 11:30 PM Italian time on on RAITRE channel. It's called Tatami, and is hosted by Camilla Raznovich.
Camilla was about eight months pregnant and she joked about going into labor on the show. The stage had a semicircle of guests sitting facing a runway that made it look like a fashion show set. The runway was for the host to walk in high heels and low-cut maternity dress. I think I heard an audience but the monitor didn't show that, and it wasn't part of my audio. Four rectangular screens for remote guests forming a box hung over the set.
After some technical problems and a false start, the first guest in the studio made his pitch: we have the greatest level of technology ever attained and it will save us. Disaster isn't going to happen. Nature is the biggest polluter because of all the CO2 produced by plants, and so on.
An environmentalist guest on a remote in Milan followed, and they asked what he thought of that. He said he didn't hear a word because all he could hear was the English translation and he doesn't speak English. While stage crew swarmed on and under the set, Camilla recapped his speech so he'd know what to comment on.
It was another half hour before the glitches and crossed wires were adequately straightened out. That won't be on the show, because they'll edit, and viewers won't know that Techno guy was proved wrong mere seconds after praising technology. I wasn't able to hear the Milan guest because it took a little longer to get the translator back in my ear. I could barely hear him due to a louder feed from the show itself. He could see me but not hear me, so I had to nod for yes.
A guest in the Tatami studio grew up in New York and then went to California to sit in a tree to prevent it from being cut down. The host explained to him that she would ask questions in English and then he should wait a moment to answer so they can edit. He was likely receiving the same translation in his ear that I was.
Techno guy said that a tree in the Redwoods had been saved by an actress tree-sitting (Julia Butterfly Hill?) and it blew down the next year. Reforestation replaces more trees than are cut... blah, blah.
Another guest in the studio psychoanalyzed people's motivation for thinking that we aren't treating the environment as we should: we actually feel badly about ourselves.
They showed a scene in Northern Italy of a sustainable homestead making cob houses with solar panels on the roof.
Techno guy said there were too many people for all of us to live that way, a point I returned to when my turn finally came -- an hour later than expected.
Camilla asked about my vasectomy, if it was out of concern for the environment or just to practice free love. I disregarded the latter and said that it was the best way to keep from getting someone pregnant. Regrets, she asked? No, and I still had the opportunity to be a parent. We don't have to reproduce to become parents.
Asked if I had a religion or a belief in a higher power. I said no but others do and that VHEMT is compatible with all religions -- most have a time when humans are not on the planet.
I might have said that, for extinct species, disaster has already happened.
Phycho guy said there must be something in my past that made me take this radical view. I said that I was trying to find a reason for breeding that wasn't pathological. He said something aboout giving love. I said there are nearly seven billion of us already here to love we don't need to make any more of us to love.
Camilla said some things related to her decision to be pregnant, I think, but I couldn't hear the translation well enough. Fortunately, she asked if I had any last thing to add, giving me the opportunity to wish her and her new daughter the best.
I think it went well though I can't remember all of what was said: I wasn't dedicating any brain power to memory functions as circuits were overloaded coping with immediate demands. This was a challenging situation, but at least I had a monitor to watch when I wasn't on camera, which helped a lot.
I hope some Italian VHEMTers will comment on the show, correct any mis-remembering, and let us know what other guests said.