By Eleftheria Tiliakou – No Filter
When Reality Drowns Out the Noise
So, what exactly happened over the past few days?\
For months, fears, concerns, and dramatic predictions were being cultivated regarding the prospect of transporting waste from Kalymnos to Kos. Yet reality seems to have unfolded very differently from the disaster scenarios we kept hearing about.
The transfers began on a trial basis. The trucks moved. The waste was transported. And yet, almost nobody noticed.
No roads were closed. No traffic jams were created. No environmental burden was felt by the residents of Kos. None of the alarming images that some had been confidently predicting for months materialized.
This does not mean there should be no scrutiny. Nor does it mean that the people of Kos do not have the right to express concerns about their island. Every local community has the right to know what is being planned and to demand transparency.
But reasonable concern is one thing; creating a climate of fear that is ultimately contradicted by reality is quite another.
Even more interesting is this: despite the legal appeals that have been filed, there is still no known court injunction preventing the implementation of the plan. Pending litigation alone is not enough to halt an administrative decision. Unless a suspension order has been granted, public authorities are entitled to proceed with implementing their decisions until the courts issue a final ruling.
And this raises another question.
How is it that some media outlets in Kalymnos seem more troubled by these developments than many people in Kos itself?
How can media organizations on an island that has been searching for a solution to its waste-management problem for years view every step toward resolving that problem with suspicion?
Criticism is essential. Journalism has a duty to hold power accountable. But journalism cannot ignore facts simply because they do not fit a preferred narrative.
Because one fact remains stubbornly simple:
The transfers took place. They passed almost unnoticed. And the catastrophe that some had confidently predicted never appeared.
Perhaps, then, it is time to set exaggerations aside and look at reality as it is—not as some would prefer it to be.
