In a word ... crisis

Is there any more overused word in media circles these days than crisis? It can appear that, in pursuit of the ever-fascinating storyline, the media presents a world which lurches from crisis to crisis.

It is why some refer to news media as “the anxiety industry”.

Without such never-ending anxiety, over whatever you’re having yourself, where would news be? More than likely, as now, it would be stuck in an eternal “silly season” which, in its brief annual six-week visitation, as now, can strike terror into what may remain of even the most experienced journalist’s soul.

An eternal silly season is a journalist's vision of hell such as was beyond the imagination of Dante as he created his Inferno.

It has to be acknowledged that he wrote his masterpiece many centuries before the printing press was invented and without which newspapers would not have first appeared in the 17th century.

Here in Euroworld so much of this year has been preoccupied with “the Greek crisis”, which is appropriate for this column’s purposes today. That is not to suggest for a moment such recent Greek drama was staged solely for the convenience of this column. Too long a sacrifice may make a stone of the heart and we would not want any part in such as might precipitate that destiny on the long-suffering Greek people.

No, the sole reason why the word crisis is appropriate in the context is that it originated in classical Greek, as indeed does the word “drama”. Indeed both are linked in the phrase “making a drama out of a crisis”, which means to exaggerate a situation.

But before addressing the origin of crisis more fully, can I just say, and speaking as a natural-born optimist, that few irritate me as much as people who rush mightily to remind us that in Chinese and Japanese the word crisis is represented by two characters representing danger and opportunity. It trivialises what can often be a traumatic situation. So be off with ye!

Crisis in English dates from the late 15th century and is the Latinised form of the Greek work krisis, meaning turning point in a disease leading to either recovery or death. Drama, from the late Latin drama, is derived from the Greek drama meaning play, action, deed. From dran to do, act, perform.