Recorded on August 7, 2009.The job of the intellectual, the so-called public intellectual, as we are now for some reason doomed to call it, is or ought to be, to say something along the following lines: It's more complicated than that. You mustn't simplify this; there's more complexity to this subject. That's what an intellectual should be doing for public discourse. One thinks.
But then there are occasions when, it seems to me, that the reverse is the case. That actually, what the really thoughtful person should be saying is, It's simple; do not make complexity here, where none is required. I was trying to imagine what Barack Obama would say if he was asked about Salman Rushdie. Would he say, Of course, I'm for free expression over religious sensibilities, every time? He wouldn't be able to do this, I suddenly realized. He's never been asked. But in his campaign to remake our relationship with the Muslim world, no one's ever asked him the fatwa question. Could he just give a straight reply? And no dancing around. I bet you he could not. Whereas the most boring thing I've ever said about Salman Rushdie was the only thing I wanted to say. Which was, you have to be on his side; there's no other side you can possibly be on.
I understand what complexities that people want to introduce, but I'm here to repudiate them and say no-no, keep it simple. Orwell is very good in that way. It's very hard to tell what the truth is and some people even say that you can't quite do that; that there may not even be such a thing as objective truth. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try for it.