The spirit of Balbín is everywhere

José Luis Balbín, in the center, in one of the 'La clave' programs.

Everything has been written and said about José Luis Balbín.

Fortunately, in the life of the aforementioned, which has left very little room for originality in the obituaries.

Everyone has reveled in the smoke of the pipe and in the art of conversation, almost always to sigh for any past time, which was better, and compare that

with the chicken coops of today.

Very few have caressed the paradox —I have only heard something similar to Carlos Alsina, the great contemporary artist of quiet conversation— that today's shouts cannot be opposed to yesterday's ramblings.

If today everything is a gathering, it is due to the triumph of the spirit of José Luis Balbín.

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José Luis Balbín dies, legendary presenter and creator of the program 'La Clave'

When he left TVE, he took refuge in the radio exile that Martín Ferrand offered him on Antena 3 Radio and moved the talk show of

to a medium where that genre barely existed.

That today hardly anyone conceives of another way of dealing with current affairs, neither on the radio nor on TV (or on podcasts!) is a victory, perhaps Pyrrhic, for Balbín.

Far from betraying his spirit, today's pundits embody and perpetuate him.

Balbín is everywhere, there is not a single media outlet that does not venerate his legacy every day.

That the gatherings of today are not

is a cliché as debatable as that tomatoes no longer taste like tomatoes.

We do not debate as in 1980 because we are not in the Spain of 1980, and that does not mean that we are a worse country.

On the contrary: plurality forces us to compete, and competition forces us to be agile.

Perhaps we have sacrificed rigor and calm on the altars of ingenuity and lively reply, but the discussion is still valid as a fundamental tool of democracy.

Let's worry when there are no talks.

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