At public broadcaster Czech Television (ČT), anyone can be a sociologist. All it takes is to blame everything on the "inadaptables."
ČT has a problem. Its reporting on the extremist marches against Romani people around the country has been of such low quality as to be misleading.
This year ČT ate humble pie and invited an "expert" to participate in their broadcast on this issue. On the 24 August edition of "News in the Regions" (Události v regionech), "sociologist" Jiří Siostrzonek commented on the extremist marches that had taken place that day.
During his brief performance, Siostrzonek first handled the anchor’s questions and then added his own opinions to the mix. The most important term in his vocabulary was that of "inadaptable citizens", because, as he said, "whoever commits a crime, whoever does not live in accordance with civil coexistence, should be punished and made an example of."
Siostrzonek also said it was necessary to reject "the politically correct orations of [former Czech Human Rights and Minorities Minister] Kocáb and Co." This politically correct discourse is false and untrue, because Mr Siostrzonek knows very well that "Kocáb and Co." would never want to live in a prefabricated apartment building occupied by Romani tenants.
What else? Nothing. The anchor thanked her guest and the program proceeded with a report on a motocross competition.
The questions raised by this performance are the following: (1) What was Mr Siostrzonek doing on the "News in the Regions" program; and (2) What was the title "sociologist" under his name trying to claim?
The first question should be of interest to every single taxpayer. What Mr Siostrzonek told us could just as easily have been said by any of the skinhead boys shown tipping over Romani families’ garbage cans in the reportage – not only would that have been more authentic, but a demonstrator probably wouldn’t have charged a fee for his "expertise".
ČT, however, would never have gotten away with that, because they need "experts". That is why they invited Jiří Siostrzonek on the program, an instructor at the Institute of Creative Photography in Opava who studies neither extremism, nor majority-minority coexistence, nor poverty.
As his publications show, Siostrzonek has never studied anything in the field of sociology. Naturally, this does not mean that he is not a good creative photographer, but it does not explain why a good garbage-can-tipper-over wasn’t asked to speak in the report instead of him.
As a sociologist, I guess it should please me when someone who knows nothing about my profession declares himself a member of it. This is not the first such case, and if people are interested in passing themselves off as one, then it means sociologists enjoy a certain respect.
However, as an instructor, I find this regrettable. I want to show students the possibilities of critical thinking, I often force them to read difficult introductory texts in the hopes that the discerning powers of sociological analysis will enchant them – and then on television a person shows off with the title "sociologist" when all he wants to do is share his prejudices with us.
Siostrzonek heroically inveighed against political correctness, falling back on criticism of "Kocáb and Co." for daring to seek a solution other than turning over garbage cans, and ultimately recommended "punish[ing] and… mak[ing] an example of" those who do "not live in accordance with civil coexistence". Through these opinions, he has proudly taken his stand alongside another infamous philosophy department graduate (who, by coincidence, is also an "expert" on minority problems) PhDr. Miroslav Sládek [chair in the early 1990s of the ultra-right Sdružení pro republiku – Republikánska strana Československa, SPR-RSČ, or Coalition for Republic – Republican Party of Czechoslovakia].
There are plenty of sociologists in this country who actually do study minority issues. Even if that were not the case, there are enough sociologists here who would be able to give people some food for thought on the basis of their professional experience.
At Czech Television, however, they prefer people like Jiří Siostrzonek. The message this sends to their viewers is that they are on the side of those who tip garbage cans over.
First published on Pavel Pospěch’s blog.
