On 11/22/2013 I went to the Premiere of Michel Gondry’s documentary Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? The film is a dense exploration of life, logic anxd linguistics with MIT Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky. Intricate pontifications of the modern day philosopher are strung together by a candid discussion of Chomsky's family, childhood and mortality. Gondry lays a kaleidoscope of old photos and animation over these conversations.
In the film Noam likens his Philadelphia Public High School
to a “black hole" and in other interviews and writings summarizes
mainstream education as an instrument of indoctrination. Chomsky gives the audience a vivid
account of his formal education prior to the “black hole” of high school; at a
“Deweyite (elementary) school” student’s creativity and critical thinking were
of the utmost importance. “Deweyite Schools” is named after one of CU’s own;
Professor of Philosophy John Dewey (1859-1952) who taught at CU & TC (1904-1930). Many of Chomsky’s 21st
century critiques of education, production and labor are a modern day
reverberation of Dewey’s work.
Historian Hilda Neatby said Dewey was “not a philosopher, but the philosopher.”
Political scientists, philosophers,
libertarians, progressives and the apolitical alike would argue that Chomsky is
the philosopher of our times and much
of that sentiment is based off his activism and political writings (a hobby
compared to his work in Linguistics).
Both Noam Chomsky and Michel Gondry
were in attendance at the premier and in a Q&A after the film; I was one of
two audience members fortunate enough to be called on…
—I need to pause here to emphasize
that picking the brain of (arguably) the world’s foremost thinker isn’t a
privilege I am often afforded. Needless to say I was nervous—
I wanted to know how Chomsky reconciles being a leading
critic of an education system that is “designed for obedience and passivity”
when he himself is a leader at MIT, one of the most elite schools in that very
same system. However, in fear of being rude or accusatory (neither my intention),
I “kept it on the I”:
I began with a contextual
irrelevancy; “I come from a blue-collar background”(why start off on the right
foot when one can just shove it in their mouth?) and then divulged that I am a
student at Columbia University: one of the most elite schools in the education system,
or per Chomsky an “instrument” of “elitist indoctrination.” I said I often
heard the argument that if I benefited from this system, I didn’t have a right
to radically critique it. In other words; if I am an “elite collaborator” I
cannot also be a “legitimate dissenter.”
The Professor gave a generously elegant answer (same as video above) )while
simultaneously questioning, then correcting my word usage. I wish I could quote
Chomsky verbatim but I wouldn’t do him justice. However, his concluding comment
summarized his point well: "we need good people everywhere."
I do not know if Chomsky was being charitable or not, but in
a later email he said my question was a “proper concern for many people.” Botched as that question might have been, I
am still happy with the answer. Click here to see Amy Goodman interview Michele Gondry (& ask him the same question about his work that i was trying to ask Chomsky). Columbia's Philosophy Department
will be hosting Noam Chomsky on December 6th at 4:15pm where his is
delivering his "Dewey Lecture Series". (501 Schermerhorn)
& Michel Gondry’s documentary Is the
Man Who Is Tall Happy? , is now showing in limited release and will soon be available for iTunes download.
