Dear Matthijs, Tom, Mart, every broadcaster in the report of the Van Rijn committee,
Last week my washing machine broke down. It was nothing serious, it wouldn’t spin anymore because the water in the container behind the flap was too high, leaving all the washing machine juice in the drum. I knew the problem and knew that at times like this you open the valve to let the excess water drain through a hose.
Dry pallets with a hair dryer
In my current house, the washing machine is in the storage room, on two wooden pallets, the lamp in the storage room provides sparse light, it is cramped there and besides, I only had time to take a look at it at eleven o’clock in the evening, but it really had to be done. So around midnight I found myself pouring water into an old bucket with a cut-off PET bottle, knowing that I would have to use my girlfriend’s hairdryer until at least one o’clock in the morning, because the pallets soaked by the spilled water would never grow on their own. would dry in the damp storage room. And I didn’t want mold.
Driving rain
Why am I telling you this? Why do I want to tell you about my washing machine in the week that the report is released about the abuses at the public broadcaster, your abuses? Because while reading that report I get the feeling that you, the bosses of the state media, never repaired your washing machine during the period when you were at the top.
You never cycled home through the driving rain to get your laptop charger, you only ate a sandwich on a packed train balcony a long time ago, because you knew that there would be no time for lunch after arrival. However futile (and annoying) these kinds of activities may seem, they are vital to being a full member of society.
Stumbling on happiness
Because by experiencing this kind of minor bad luck, you join a long line of suckers. A long line of losers who plod from small bad luck to small bad luck, but sometimes stumble over good luck. That long line of losers that is society.
The broadcaster, the public broadcaster that everyone in that society basically watches and listens to, has one of its tasks to help people stumble upon that happiness. But how is the broadcaster supposed to understand losers when it is led by people who can avoid minor bad luck through wealth or power? In other words, I’m so disappointed that you forgot how important it is to be a loser.
Washing machine juice and stars
That’s why I want that from now on, those who are responsible for bringing happiness to us losers on a silver platter via radio or television will always also be responsible for a broken washing machine. Because only if you experience small bad luck enough times will you understand the value of luck. Only then will you know the difference between washing machine and orange juice, and will you know what it means when you suddenly see the stars when emptying the bucket outside.