I agree.
I had a long talk with Chomsky after that.
You're that guy, right?
What?
I'm myopic.
You are Igor Vidmar. Am I right?
That was a very mysterious phenomenon.
(Alleged) Chomsky's quote.
(Sorry, incomprehensible to me.)
Things are becoming complicated.
Number one. I agree with this statement now.
And I wrote that too in my apology to
Harper Magazine.
Obama is racially black,
but politically a tanned white man.
This is absolutely clear from his ...
No, no. It's a little more
complicated than that. Let me explain.
I think... Wasn't it clear from my text why?
Chomsky and other leftists went with this ...
Fine, let's vote for Obama because he's better,
but don't have the illusion that he will change anything.
I think that's not enough.
I think the election of Obama as a black man,
had an emphatic historical meaning.
And only cynicism is not enough.
Something historical has happened.
Something like that, although we brag,
is not possible in Europe.
This is what I wanted to emphasize.
The meaning of Obama's election
is not only in his future work.
But I insist that, in the light of his
future work he is a tanned white man.
It's good that he's tanned,
but don't have any illusions about him.
Why did I apologize?
Purely for empirical reasons.
That guy (from Harper) was bothering me
on the telephone,
I explained it to him. Then he asked me to
write a sentence or two about this. And I did.
I still think this is true.
Or else I'm crazy. That's my problem.
I'm not lying. I checked it on my computer.
God-dammit, I can bring it here!
Every saved file has a date. Even I learned that,
and I'm a computer idiot.
Can you (we used to address one another as "thou")
explain this mystery to me?
How can the first version of my article be dated from
two days before Berlusconi gave his statement?
This is my enigma.
Then I am delirious.
What? That I gave that to Chomsky?
Simple ...
Simple. I sent them the full version,
they censored it. They do that all the time.
To be honest, I'm not fucking around,
I know it will seem like a joke ... but take it seriously.
I claim I have read this statement before
somewhere in Slovenia.
- (Perhaps you can psychoanalyse yourself) - No.
- (Was it from lack of awerness?)
Fine. But I'll say it like this then.
When I had a talk with Chomsky after that,
we ... Do you know what was Chomsky's
private reply to me?
I agree with you,
but I never gave that statement.
We immediately came to what I wrote in my letter
(to Harper, probably).
The logic of my statement
was different than Berlusconi’s.
He was being sarcastic...
He (Obama) is one of us after all ...
Chomsky meant it as a (leftist) critique ...
But it's about something else.
I think that this statement,
even if Chomsky had given it,
is not (racially) inadmissible. It is part
of a totally acceptable political logic.
It even has a long tradition among
black American radicals.
When you say to someone,
you are white (politically).
Even American Indians call those who
have integrated into the society "apple Indians".
Why? Red outside, white inside.
This mystery is bothering me.
Was I delirious or what?
Two days before (Berlusconi's statement)
I had saved my first version of the article.
Then I went on the internet to look for
Slovenia-Chomsky-Obama.
- I didn't find it. What happened to it?
Honestly, I'm not bluffing. - (You're a psychoanalyst.)
My first rule is that I don't analyse
myself or anyone else,
I write about psychoanalysis
so that I don’t' have to do practical work.
But really, as I said ...
I agree, this is Obama. I can only repeat.
I consider it politically totally acceptable to say
that Obama is a tanned white man.
According to political logic.
This is not a bad thing. He will probably
do some good things, etc.
But don't have illusions.
I know people who know him.
That doesn't mean anything big.
He lived in Chicago where I have contacts.
In Hyde Park. My friends showed me
his house, etc.
They also told me some interesting things.
That privately, he is a total atheist.
Total atheist. He's just bluffing.
Because he knows that in America you
can't have a political career if you're not religious.
Let's finish then.
