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Author: anthonybosschem

Niet meer dan een hobby

De vrouwen breien in hun vrije tijd. De mannen niet, nee. Die zitten samen, een fles cognac op tafel, te bediscussiëren hoe de wereld best vormgegeven zou worden. Zo is het niet meer, maar ik merk dat ook ik meer belang hechtte aan het bediscussiëren van de wereld dan aan breien. Dat doe ik niet meer. Denk ik. Het laatste centje viel toen ik met een gerenommeerd denker aan het discussiëren was over welk democratisch systeem het beste zou kunnen zijn. Ik steeg boven ons beiden uit en zag de heftigheid waarmee we ons punt aan het verdedigen waren. Het…

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Hogere wiskunde

Na vijf jaar en 140 gesprekken voelde ik vermoeidheid. Dat had zeker te maken met de stress die een verlieslatend bedrijf met zich meebrengt en plots wegviel toen we eindelijk break-even begonnen te draaien. Maar het was ook een stuk moeilijker geworden om nog te voelen wie ik eigenlijk graag wilde spreken en waarom. In mijn hoofd had er zich een beeld gevormd van de ideale zwijgen is geen optie gast. En het tempo lag zo hoog en de druk was zo aanwezig, dat ik niet meer buiten dat kader kon denken. Als een vis die enkel een leven in…

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Perec and procedural design

With the “Zwijgen is geen optie” (Silence is not an option) website, I’ve always been aiming for a design that could evolve over time rather than having to redesign every few years. Just like the timelessness of the content we produce and our signature monochrome film editing, the foundation of our design should have a great sense of slowness and continuity. Gerard Leysen took that principle and came up with knots and ropes as reusable, changeable yet very recognisable design elements and I still think it works beautifully. It also made for a beautiful pin for our Patrons to wear:…

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The price for government subsidies

Every few months someone asks me why Zwijgen is geen optie (“Silence is not an option”, read more about it here) hasn’t applied for government subsidies. It’s a good question. Because the choice, even though I’m not always so sure it has been the right one, has been a crucial one for this project. My business partner and dear friend Tom and I spent hours and hours checking out all possible government subsidies and came to the conclusion that it just wasn’t for us*. I’ll try to summarise why. Keep in mind: this is by no means an argument for…

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On scale

I’ve been reading a bit of literature on physics. Turns out matter doesn’t exist? Matter only exists when two particles ‘meet’? Aka: in the physical world there is no matter, there are only events? (I’m summarizing here. Badly, probably.) It reminded me of something I read in Ray Dalio’s book a few years ago: the closer you align yourself to the rules of nature, the bigger your chances on success are. If you, for instance, find a way of scaling something that used to be unscalable, you turn something scarce into something abundant and you’ll be rewarded for that effort.…

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Nee.

‘Nee.’ Geen boze ogen of gespannen mond, geen streepjes tussen haar wenkbrauwen die een frons verraden, geen diepe dreigende stem. ‘Nee.’ Geen witte knokkels en geen gebalde vuisten. Geen gekrulde tenen. Geen borst vooruit pas op want ik meen het. Geen gerechte rug. Geen spanning in dat lijf. Niets, niets, niets. Gewoon. ‘Nee.’ Ze straalt. Verdomme ze straalt. Rinkelde mijn telefoon maar nu. Een belangrijk gesprek. Niet mijn moeder. Of wel. Mijn moeder en iets met de gezondheid. Iets dringend. Zorgzaam neem ik op. Bezorgd maar niet angstig. Vastberaden. Ik moet echt gaan, dit kan niet wachten. Geen paniek mama…

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On ambition

I’m drinking a beer with a well-known author in a small Antwerp pub. We’re talking about the promotion tour surrounding his book launch. The endless queue of ill-prepared interviewers he has to work through. Then he starts talking about a 20-something woman who works for a small magazine aimed towards the Christian community in our half-a-country Flanders. She’s not ambitious, she proclaims. She knows real journalists look down on the medium she works for. Somewhere along the way she decided to stop caring. She likes the pace and the stability. In front of her is a little notebook. In it,…

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Go rogue

I had the honour of speaking at an event about constructive journalism organised by the Brussels Center for Journalism Studies. The other speakers – both professors – brought some awesome research about what constructive journalism is and how it may benefit public debate in our society. But I learned even more from the conversations with students afterwards. The ones I talked to were on the lookout for internships and confronted with the disconnect between journalistic principles thought at school and the everyday practice of being a journalist at most media outlets. It’s hard to follow the rules of constructive journalism…

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Tough love

Whenever I’m working on a new plan, I try to make a list of people who are more knowledgeable than I am on the subject at hand and ask for their advice. The earlier I am in the process, the more it resembles “thinking out loud”. Instead I’m not under the shower and alone but I’m joined by super smart people. And usually not showering. These conversations generate a lot of conflicting advice, leaving me the task of triangulating until I believe the decision I’m about to take is the right one. I consider such a conversation successful whenever it…

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Impact

For a long time I didn’t really understand what the value of our work at ZIGO was. The personal value was clear: I just love asking honest questions to people I look up to. But why were people watching and sharing? Why did people offer to pay for something we gave away for free? The overwhelmingly kind responses to our work have long felt undeserved. Even after months of conversations with smart people about the value of our work, I didn’t get it. It seemed like people saw something in ZIGO that I didn’t understand. Looking back, I identified too…

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