Here
is the Editorial clipped from The New York Times of Monday, June 5, 2006 Page
A18:
Here
is a response from Drew Kopf:
The New York
Times Company
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
USA
Phone: (212)556-1873
Fax: 1-212-556-3690
To the Editor:
re: "Mr. Hevesi's
Blunder" (Op-Ed page A18, June 5):
Your conjectures as to
how and why Mr. Hevesi let slip his unfortunate remarks during a recent commencement
address were kind at best if not somewhat simplistic. Maybe he was tired.
Maybe he did let his guard down. Of course he should know better. But, your
suggestion that “from now on Mr. Hevesi needs to speak from a script”
misses the learning moment for him, for the Queens College students who were
being graduated that day and for all of us.
Let speakers speak. Let
their listeners benefit from their knowledge and experience and, then, give
due consideration to their opinions and advice. But, please let us not encourage
speakers to read from scripts. It is only during the delivery of unscripted
speeches that a live audience can see, hear and feel the worthiness of a speaker
and of his or her message.
If we want perfection,
we could hire actors to perform at important occasions such as graduation
ceremonies so that the words of great writers might be delivered flawlessly;
but these would be performances, not addresses or speeches. Speeches that
are read might just as well be printed and distributed to the audience to
let them follow along or read it on their own when they have the time. If
speakers make mistakes, it may be messy, but then we get to know them for
what they really are. They really know their subject or they don’t;
they truly believe in their premise or we will know them to be the phonies
that they are.
Only during live unscripted
oratory are we allowed and able to experience the person who is addressing
us in his or her most natural state; warts and all; smooth and inspiring or
downright boring; clearly a master of their subject or fakes who should not
be up there wasting our time or theirs. In this age of ten-second sound bytes,
TV talks read from Teleprompters, ghost written books, and spin-doctors and
speechwriters who know just how to make their clients look and sound at their
marketable best; we have only two remaining opportunities to get to know candidates
for public office and those who would be our leaders, if we let them; from
face-to-face meetings, which are rare if not impossible and from live unscripted
speeches.
If we could get rid of
all the other carefully crafted ways that public figures get packaged and
replace them with speech-after-speech given live in front of interested audiences
and not hand picked cheerleaders and dyed-in-the-wool followers who clap at
whatever comes out of their hero’s mouth whether it makes sense or not,
then we might get some real high quality leaders in this country.
Let’s take it to
the other extreme. Let’s suggest that politicians; really any one who
is to address any group or speak to the press do so with out scripts; a few
notes for some key numbers or some obscure fact; fine; but that’s all.
Let us be able to judge for our selves what these people are made of; let
them make mistakes if they are tired or if they let their guard down; or if
they should have known better, but let us have access to them unfettered and
unadorned; so we can know first hand as to their fitness in any way with respect
to our community or to our country at large to lead us or to serve.
Drew Kopf
Plainview, N.Y.
June 5, 2006
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