Rob's Blog

Mr Litvinenko and a feeling that’s a little bit like déja vu
29th Nov 2006 22:11

Sometimes something catches my attention on the news and hits me with a feeling that's a little bit like déja vu. But it's not déja vu... it's something else... At the moment there's a general public interest in the death of Alexander Litvinenko. Certainly this is in part because we're curious about the cloak-and-dagger plots that everyone hopes they'll find out about, and partly it's because we're all worried that we're going to find out we've been sprinkling polonium-210 on our cornflakes for the past few weeks. The former is wishful thinking. The later is paranoia. When the paranoia passes and the wishful thinking gets quashed by the realisation we'll never know the truth it'll stop being news. It'll just fade away and the vast majority of people will never hear the end of the story. That's the feeling that's like dejavu. It's a feeling that there's something really big going on, but the knowledge that the public doesn't really want a big story so it'll just fade away. We want to chase dreams and pander to paranoia and after that we'll stop being interested. I'm sure this feeling must be what drives reporters and newscasters across the world to do what they do... but it must also be what drives them to distraction... it's a rather paradoxical feeling. If déja vu is 'already seen' then this is something like 'already disappointed'... déja déçu. Déja déçu... I wonder if I could get it to catch on? ;)