The problem with Lecture Chairs

Usual story. You go to a lecture. Chances are, more often than not, the speaker is not a rational (or has gone overboard in his rationality so that the common man cannot digest his words - both in content and form). Now you want to ask him a question. But his view is coming from a planet so different from yours that it would be necessary to explain your context. You want to use this opportunity, this gathering of people concerned about the topic in question, to achieve a meaningful displacement of ideas so that there is at least a little more harmony amongst this small subset of the population of the world when it goes out from the doors of the lecture theatre than there was when it came in. All good so far.

But wait. There is the Chair. If there is nothing that would end in a question mark if written, in the first 20 seconds of your speaking time, you get this look from him. 10 more seconds and you're rudely interrupted and reminded of your moral and ethical responsibility to only ask a question. The look continues until the seminar ends. Perhaps there should be before every question and answer session at a lecture, a vote to ask if people were willing to get into longer debates so that some sort of useful middle-way could atleast be explored between parties adhering to the speaker's vision, and those opposing it. Ofcourse, time-permitting. Obviously universities are getting money by teaching students, so it would make more sense to vacate the lecture theatre as soon as possible for the next "academic" lecture, but then there is no dearth of space in the world (yet) and the debate could continue elsewhere.

Until then, I shall prefer to keep my lips pursed during question answer sessions. Maybe one day I will give lectures. If that were ever to happen, I'd make sure what my Chair was like. Until then, my dear friend (if you're reading this chances are you fall in this category), I shall keep pestering you with my opinions and editorialization of this messy world as I see it.