I’ve seen a few congressional hearings, and they are so annoying. To a point, I question why the people being questioned just don’t leave.
The two I’ve seen were one with Mark Zuckerberg, where he was being questioned by a Republican named Hawley. He kept asking Mark questions, and when Mark started to answer, Hawley kept interrupting him. I don’t even like Mark Zuckerberg, but during this “interview,” I just said, “Dude, shut the fuck up and let him answer.” Even if he gave a bullshit answer, let him answer and then ask another question. But whenever he opened his mouth, Hawley just kept talking over him. Why? What’s the point of this?
It’s the same thing with the TikTok hearing with the TikTok CEO. They asked questions, and when he started to answer, they interrupted him. Like, why??? If I was talking to the TikTok CEO or Mark Zuckerberg and I had a chance to grill them, I would want to hear their answers and then ask again—not just interrupt them for 5+ hours.
And if I was one of the other judges or politicians there, I would say, ‘Dude, shut up and let them speak when they answer the question. If you don’t, this hearing is over.’
I don’t even like these guys, but goddamn, what’s the point? They’re wasting everyone’s time. And why even go to these hearings if you can’t speak? Whether you’re a billionaire CEO or just some other politician, I’d leave if I couldn’t answer.
Because these hearings are televised, many of the questions are not designed to elicit an informed response that can be used to carefully weigh the issue at hand; they’re designed to produce a sound byte that be played on the evening news to drive a certain narrative.
While the idea of televising the hearings on the basis of transparency seems admirable on paper, the reality is that these hearings have been turned into an opportunity to ambush people with loaded questions to get free media points and farm twitter clips