The Return of Dragon of Mohenjo-Daro

Deaf

It was a Sunday night and death of the last tiger was in prime-time news. The secretary of health (who was a politician and a big celebrity in the country) and a scientist from NASA (who was a world-wide known animal rights activist) were hosted in a TV studio.

The scientist said: "The loss of the last tiger is a huge indication that the world has gone off the rails. We as the animal rights activists have been reporting thousands of lost species each year. It is a shame that it can make the headlines only after everything is over. It looks like the media and the government are both deaf."

The secretary rudely interrupted. "Can it be because people like you have been reporting wrong predictions for the last few decades? You have clearly hijacked NASA which is an institution funded by vast amount of taxes. You have been setting the Thames on fire as if there was a climate crisis, as if there was water depletion, as if industrial wastes were in overflow etcetera. I hear dozens of pretexts where none of them turn out to be a real problem at the end. And you bring these to the table in the name of human health. But after all, we as the government, are the ones improving the health and well-being of our people despite your doom mongering. And you know what; when I ask your solution to those so called problems, you tell me that the solution is to prevent population growth by contraception. What an oxymoron it is to defend murder as a well-being solution! As NASA you should only do space stuff. You are clearly not qualified in earthly problems."

The scientist continued from where she was interrupted. "Dear secretary, you are telling me to do space stuff as if the world was placed somewhere else. If you'll pardon, I will repeat once more. It's a shame that it can make the headlines only after everything is over. The government has been deaf to us for the last 12 months even while we were reporting..."

The secretary interrupted again. "While you were reporting an asteroid in collision course with the Earth. We are not deaf. You are just a loser scientist who has never predicted anything right. Stop putting your blame on us."

The scientist suddenly stood up and left the studio. She started packing her bag at the backstage and asked for a taxi to go. Meanwhile, the TV broadcasting was cancelled by the chief editor. It was the president of the country who called the editor and requested to immediately change the subject about the asteroid. But it was too late. People had heard the asteroid from the secretary of health who was the most popular voice of the country. Having checked twitter hashtags, the editor quickly understood that this was going to be a big deal for the ratings.