“The world has gone mad,” my neighbor sighed as we got out of our car almost at the same time as we did the Saturday shopping in the back. I knew that there would now be a long monologue and that there was no point in fleeing. So I calmly awaited my fate. “At TUI, they are already going to mount a light above your seat in airplanes that will come on after landing and that indicates that you can clap. They call it an applause light, I read somewhere. Is something like this really necessary?’ ‘When did that start?’, I asked with schadenfreude. “Well, at the beginning of the month, on April 1st,” my neighbor said, immediately slapping himself on the forehead. ‘Oh yes, April 1st…’ He was undeterred: ‘Maybe they should only mount those applause lights at Boeing. Lately, things have gone wrong so often with these aircraft that you start clapping your hands out of sheer relief when you are safely back on the runway.’ He looked triumphant because of his humorous find. I barely had time to breathe for a serious and nuanced answer, as he immediately began his next thought. “You know what I think is really moronic? That you have those people who have filed a complaint with the Advertising Code Committee against TUI because TUI advertises air holidays to Turkey. Serious. How do they come up with it? Did TUI kill anyone? Did TUI scam anyone? Did TUI cheat? No, nothing, nothing, nada. What’s the name of that club again? Oh yes, Reclame Fossielvrij, those people who apparently have too much free time, who think that you should not advertise things that could be harmful to the environment. Well, then we can shut down our entire society. Because everything that’s fun is bad for you. Take Red Bull or Coke. As if that’s healthy, with all that sugar. But do they also want to ban advertising for it? As if I would care about that, by the way. So can I please decide for myself whether I am going to fly? Or drink Coke.’ He looked into the distance and licked his lips. “No, the world has gone mad. Have they ever thought about freedom of speech? After all, advertising something is freedom of speech. And you don’t have to agree with that, that’s freedom of speech again. But don’t forbid someone else. And by the way, those extreme environmental ideas are only counterproductive for the well-intentioned citizen (he pointed two thumbs at himself) who wants to contribute to a better environment. It’s about support. And you can’t achieve that by banning the well-intentioned citizen from everything.’ He looked at my crate of groceries. “Did you happen to buy any Coke?” (Photo Shutterstock).
