Gasp for silences in memorable #Zomergasten with Simon Kuper

"Yes, I see." It sounded quite often from presenter Griet Op De Beeck's mouth, during broadcast 2 of Zomergasten 2025. She then said this, before she had checked whether we at home had understood it too. Quite difficult, because there were so many wisdoms and food for thought in Simon Kuper's extremely captivating story, that we almost begged for silence, to let something sink in, and to ask a question, because we hadn't read up as much at home.

That's what you get with preparation. Griet Op de Beeck prepares so incredibly well for the interviews with her Summer Guests that she forgets that we had missed the homework assignment during the summer holidays. Here, for instance, we didn't know a few things: who is Simon Kuper and why do we have to listen to him for three hours? 

Now, that became more than enough clear in the three hours of television, but it would have been nice if the first hour had been helped a bit along the way. For instance, by briefly explaining to the less initiated viewers at home who Kuper is. There are quite a few people who survive without a subscription to the Financial Times, or for whom not every edition of Hard Grass is on the shelf.

Eager respect

As mentioned, the interviewee himself made his motivations and wisdom more than clear in those three hours, but first more despite On the Beeck, then thanks to the dramatist and author turned interviewer. Still she often finished Kuper's sentences before he could finish, and still moved on to the next topic where more explanation was in order. Only advantage: now it was accompanied by an eager respect that she could not muster at all with her previous guest, Özcan Akyol. 

Where at Eus never eye contact made, Op de Beeck now almost crawled across the table to Kuper, breathing in his words. And rightly so, because in three hours, the columnist and author made herself read like a world-wise intellectual and self-proclaimed writing addict whose everything I now want to read. A male Hannah Arendt, and that is a huge compliment from this side. 

Unlikely intrusive

Kuper was also prepared, of course, and thus knew that Op de Beeck would interrupt and complement him. Better than Eus, who managed to stay friendly and patient for at least two hours, the Southern African-born, Leiden-educated and Paris-based author managed to keep his composure and kindness. He even broke into sobs all by himself, and that as early as quarter past nine, where it is usually scheduled around 10:30.

This made the broadcast increasingly enjoyable as the evening progressed, especially as the Financial Times columnist's words were so improbably incisive that interrupting and supplementing became impossible. Even for Griet Op de Beeck. Except for that occasional "Yes, I see." except, then.

Perhaps it was also because of her service dog, who became a bit restless at some point. In broadcast 1, the labrador lay calm all evening, but became momentarily uncomfortable in this broadcast. Perhaps for sanitary reasons, which could also be the rationale behind the thick layer of sand on the studio floor, but it could also be that she noticed that her owner had moved into a different comfort zone. If so, 'distracting' is something such an assistance dog might have learned.

Silly questions

Regardless, the eventual conduct of the three-hour interview offers hope. Not only because thinkers and writers like Simon Kuper appear to exist, but also because student interviewer Op de Beeck may be starting to see that perfect preparation should not get in the way of the duty to ask stupid questions that every journalist must learn. 

Let's hope that with her next guest, Eva Crutzen, she does have the composure to deviate from the checklist of topics. How I hope for a silence of a few seconds, an eternity in television land, in which we are allowed to let something sink in for a while. 

This is why

Just as I am now surely spending hours in silence reliving all the wisdom and wisdom Simon Kuper imparted to us. 

Like: how he explains how we owe the 1988 European Championship victory over Germany to getting rid of hatred towards Germans. But that we derived our moral self-worth precisely from that hatred, because Germans were perpetrators, and we were victims. After 1988, we spent 13 years looking for new hatred. Until 11 September 2001 offered a solution to that, which was seized upon by first Pim Forytuyn and later Geert Wilders.

Like: how continuing to write in the light of eternity is as futile as the effort of ants continuing to build their mounds, but that we keep doing it anyway. 

Such as: how victims of one history can easily turn into perpetrators of the next history. 

Like: that we have to keep thinking and reading to avoid going crazy.

So watch it. You can do so on the website for the first three weeks after the broadcast. After that, you should start reading all Simon Kuper's books. And subscribe to the Financial Times.

So grab your chance: Watch back.