The end of Tal and Aviad was expected. This is another liberal-democratic-center-left brick that falls. Their program, which was very popular in the last 20 years, also became a voice for a large public that is gradually losing its grip on current Israeliness. The voice of Israelis who feel that the country has lost it.
This is a generation that grew up against the backdrop of Rabin’s assassination and fantasizes about a “normal” and “sane” country. The 40- and 50-year-olds who live in Central and Sharon and are recently thinking about migrating to Cyprus, Portugal or the United States – they are probably the largest audience that has kept their faith. But the enthusiasm has gone And faded. The understanding that that Israel will never return is getting more and more ingrained. Yair Lapid recently insists on saying that the opposition is not waging a war, but a struggle.
Perhaps it should be precise, this is actually a Sisyphean-style scheme. It’s an event designed to fail. The country is becoming more right-wing, conservative and traditional, and the public is looking for similar representations in politics and in the media.
“The Last Word” on the IDF airwaves, which was the first in the genre of debates between the right and the left, turned into a debate between the right and even more right. The flourishing of conservative and “Bibiist” channels and media persons by their definition is the bon ton of the time, and those who enjoy it are also those who make their fortunes from being “just not Bibi”. These and those are in a media high and are burning the networks.
Radio is the smartest and most intimate warm medium. Tal and Aviad became friends of hundreds of thousands of listeners every morning for years. Those who nodded and said “right” and “right”, while meeting unreasonable traffic jams, on the way to unrewarding work, in a country that demands more from you than you can give. The listeners will be forced to look for their friends elsewhere, with other broadcasters.
Their separation also comes against the background of a crisis in humor based on a cynical worldview, which characterized the generation of the 90s, whose founding fathers are Abri Gilad and Erez Tal in Israel, and which was written as a veritable Torah in the United States by Jerry Seinfeld. The idea is to make me and my needs the center of the universe, and all others are deserving of ridicule and contempt. But nowadays sarcasm is less understood, parody is seen as a downfall on the weak instead of its purpose – to make fun of the strong. Humor to Aghani is seen as grumbling and not as trying to fix society.
Tal and Aviad’s “Haboker” program still opens with a disclaimer that explains that the content is for satire purposes and is not intended to harm any person or sector. If this was obvious, there would be no need to make it clear. A “mistake” or a statement that goes beyond the accepted mainstream spectrum.
The violent take down of Esi Cohen in the middle of a show where he laughed at vegans is proof of that. These are people without shame, with an infinite sense of justice, who are convinced that an “injustice” has been committed that must be silenced. No person, especially comedians thirsty for an audience, would want to get involved with progressive activists, God forbid they write a post accusing you of being a racist or a misogynist or a Haredi hater or not a Jew or not a patriot either oppresses Israel or hates the people or encourages violence. This is the great and paralyzing fear of everyone who holds a pen or a microphone or stands on a stage.
Tal and Aviad were a protected and successful nature reserve, but isolated, one that speaks to the sheep from its pasture and only to him. It seems that they did not try to convince anyone of the rightness of their way, and at times it seemed that she too was shaken. Doubt and reflection are part of the liberal’s DNA – constantly thinking, maybe he himself is wrong and the other is right, while the conservative is convinced that the truth is with him. This is part of his magnetism, strength and ability to grow.
The public has changed, the country is different, and the radio is not what it used to be either. Shows went up and down, couples got together and broke up. Tal and Aviad continued to wake up early in the morning to get to the studio and mediate the increasingly chaotic reality to their information-obscured listeners.
In recent years they have sold a product that no longer exists. Without heated debate, without structured conflict, without national scandals or loud verbal fights and also without the ritual of throwing headphones at each other – they provided intelligent, pleasant and slow content that sincerely wished its listeners a good morning. It is intended for those who want to drink coffee on the balcony and for whom the song on the radio plays catchy with them, in an innocent rhyme, like a forgotten children’s song, the meeting with them was always exciting anew.