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There’s an Elephant in the Room There’s an Elephant in the Room
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Photo by Duncan Rawlison, flickr.com, CC BY 2.0
Dreams and Visions

There’s an Elephant in the Room

An Interview with Noam Chomsky
Tomasz Stawiszyński
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time 28 minutes
Tomasz Stawiszyński:
was an editor of the Society section (2016-2020). He is a philosopher, essayist, and editor at Radio TOK FM. He is the author of “Clashes with Freud. Myths, Pitfalls and Temptations of Psychotherapy” (2013)."

Noam Chomsky talks about who rules the world, the threat of climate change, and the breakdown of global democracy.

Noam Chomsky – a preeminent American thinker, a legend of linguistics, philosophy, and social activism – has turned 90, so he no longer spends much time coining erudite terms or positing highly complex theories. Instead, he speaks in the simplest possible language about the things that matter most. About how the human race is heading for self-destruction, by ignoring climate change. About how the wealthy and powerful get away with everything. About how a sense of powerlessness is propelling people to believe in conspiracy theories. And about how society has nevertheless achieved a lot of good things, and the future of the world is still in our hands… Our very own Tomasz Stawiszyński pays a visit to Noam Chomsky himself.

This interview was conducted in spring 2018.

Everyone who politely inquires about why I came from Warsaw to Tucson, Arizona, knows who Noam Chomsky is – maybe because he has been living in their town for a few years now. The owner of the hotel where I stay, a beautiful villa from 1911, carefully restored and adapted. The waitress at a small Mexican restaurant, her body covered in tattoos and her face festooned with an arrangement of piercings. The cashier in a grocery store, sporting an ever-present smile and giving the impression of being best friends with every customer in line. And so, it seems that the Stevensons are the only people here who have never heard of Chomsky.

Their surname is something they see fit to inform me of immediately, even as we are sitting down to breakfast at the small hotel dining room. John Stevenson, the father; Jane Stevenson, the mother; and Shelly Stevenson, the daughter. They are from Ohio, and came to Arizona to visit their son. “We are the Stevensons!” John chirps proudly in lieu of a hello, and then his whole family proceeds to question me quite inquisitively.

Is it true that Poland is surrounded by a big barbed-wire fence? Is it true that everyone in Poland considers John Paul II to be their greatest hero? Is it true that Russia is set to invade the country and incorporate it into the federation?

When I answer all such questions in the negative, the Stevensons are clearly disappointed. And once I start to talk to them about Chomsky, an outstanding American linguist, radical political activist and analyst, an advocate of anarcho-syndicalism (a political system in which private property does not exist, and all means of production are owned by workers), they lose interest very quickly.

And they start to explain to me that in fact America’s only true hope is… Donald Trump.

“Because he’s a guy who can straighten everything up,” they persuade me. “You see, he isn’t even a politician, really. And politics in America, dear Thomas, is actually just a pile of shit. At least since the times of JFK. If anyone stands a chance of changing anything, it can only be Trump. That’s why they are so afraid of him.”

“They?” I ask.

“Come on, you know who they are,” the Stevensons respond in chorus. “The people who rule the world!”

Hm, I think to myself. Maybe we don’t see eye-to-eye, but at least I have an idea for an opening question.

Photo by Duncan Rawlison, flickr.com, CC BY 2.0

Tomasz Stawiszyński: Who rules the world?

Noam Chomsky: Are you asking about a specific state

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Tomasz Stawiszyński:
was an editor of the Society section (2016-2020). He is a philosopher, essayist, and editor at Radio TOK FM. He is the author of “Clashes with Freud. Myths, Pitfalls and Temptations of Psychotherapy” (2013)."
Publish date: 13.06.2018

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“Lachrymae”, 1894-95, Lord Frederic Leighton. Source: MET
Science

Sadness Is Not a Disease

An Interview with Allan Horwitz
Tomasz Stawiszyński
Tomasz Stawiszyński:
was an editor of the Society section (2016-2020). He is a philosopher, essayist, and editor at Radio TOK FM. He is the author of “Clashes with Freud. Myths, Pitfalls and Temptations of Psychotherapy” (2013)."

It all began with an overbooked flight, which led to me flying to New York on the Tuesday instead of the Monday. I didn’t really quarrel with LOT Polish Airlines, because my meeting with Allan Horwitz – whom I had been waiting for years to interview – was scheduled to take place on the Wednesday. Horwitz is one of my intellectual idols; I devoured his books The Loss of Sadness, What’s Normal? and Creating Mental Illness. Anyhow, I e-mailed the hotel to let them know that for unforeseen reasons I would be arriving a day later.

However, when I finally arrived at the hotel the following day, after a three-hour long drive (because of extremely, even for New York, heavy traffic), I was completely jet-lagged and knackered. If this wasn’t enough, it turned out that they had never received my e-mail and thus my booking had been cancelled. “We don’t have your room and there’s nothing you can do about it” is more or less what I heard from an extremely unfriendly receptionist.

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