infundibulum

This morning I took a walk in the small subdivision of London where I’m staying, and I had an odd experience.

A couple of people came up to me and asked to interview me — I said I wasn’t British, but they said it didn’t matter. So I figured ok, whatever.

So they show me this picture of what appeared to be a parliament meeting in Asia, which had devolved into fisticuffs. They asked me what it was, and I guessed it was Korea. They said it was actually Taiwan, and would I vote for those PMs if I were a constituent? Of course I said no, and when they asked me why, I said that parliaments were supposed to be about diplomacy, not fistfights.

They said something along the lines of “good answer.”

And then we made some small talk & they left.

And I felt weird, when I had a second to think about it when they weren’t pointing the camera at me. It was almost like I was fleeced — I had no idea how my statement would be used, what their viewpoints were…

I mean, they could have been Xinhua trying to gather “unbiased” foreign opinions about the Taiwanese government…

And that made me feel a little ill.

If I’m ever asked to be interviewed like that again, I won’t do it unless the interviewers tell me who they are, where the interview will be seen, and how to contact them.

Live and learn, I guess.