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In 鈥淭he Good Soldier Schweik鈥� we find the following episode: a certain teacher at a commercial academy who had deserted from the front avoided being court-martialled and hanged by pretending he was the victim of his genes and enumerating the most varied maladies and disasters that had befallen him and his family. 鈥淟ord, you should have seen how glad they were to discharge him from the army,鈥� wrote Jaroslav Ha拧ek, 鈥渁nd just in case it should come in useful about five rookies occupying the same cell all jotted it down on scraps of paper. It went something like this: Father alcoholic. Mother prostitute. 1st sister (drowned). 2nd sister (train). Brother (from a聽bridge). Grandpa 鈥� wife, paraffin, set alight. 2nd grandma (gypsies, matches) + etc.鈥� It didn鈥檛 help the poor fellows much at the time, but the opinion that a聽person is more or less the automatic outcome of inherited traits and surrounding influences, has deep roots. The technical term for such a聽conception of a聽human as a聽being determined, that is directly controlled, by inner and outer circumstances, is determinism. We even come across it today, most often in the popular form of an excuse, when we try to explain our failures, dubious deeds or simply our inertia to others, and above all to ourselves.

I聽do not wish in any way to question the fact that certain propensities and aptitudes, for example a聽tendency to get certain illnesses, really are passed on genetically from parent to child, nor to deny that our environment and experience are to some extent responsible for forming us 鈥� I聽am just concerned with to what extent this is true and above all the fact that we are not doomed to be the passive victims of these influences.

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Allow me now to look at it from a聽rather different angle: not long ago England saw the death of a聽certain Jeffrey Bernard, a聽well-known journalist, drunkard and hothead, a聽legendary figure in London鈥檚 bohemian circles. I聽don鈥檛 know which aptitudes he inherited and which he absorbed from his surroundings, the only thing that is certain is that his intense manner of living left its mark on him, and so his last years were spent in a聽wheelchair, with amputated legs and non-functioning kidneys that forced him to undergo regular dialyses in hospital; moreover, he was dependant on the help of hired nurses, with whom he waged a running battle for a letup in his strict regimen as, for instance, he was not only forbidden to drink alcohol, but he also had to strictly regulate other fluids quite harmless to one鈥檚 health. How do I聽know all this? In this situation, which we needn鈥檛 hesitate to call depressing, Jeffrey Bernard published a聽weekly newspaper column under the title of 鈥淎聽Wretched Life鈥�, full of observations and black gallows humour, mostly directed at himself. He even let his newspaper send him 鈥� in a聽wheelchair and accompanied by a聽nurse 鈥� on a聽trip to Morocco and he wrote an article about how on arriving there he had immediately collapsed and spent the rest of his stay fighting for his life in hospital. (I mention this with such admiration, because although I聽can move my upper and lower limbs reasonably well, even if I聽am to travel no farther than a nearby town, I聽can immediately think of at least a聽thousand good reasons for not going). One day, however, Bernard decided that he had had enough of it; he wrote a聽declaration that he was not interested in undergoing another dialysis (I suspect this was influenced by the fact that he was not allowed to smoke during the six-hour procedure) and, in spite of the doctors鈥� emphatic warning that he would die within a聽week, he had himself taken home. When his friends came to persuade him to think again, he replied that he couldn鈥檛, because how would it look if he kept changing his mind. And he died.

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It may surprise you that after such an introduction I聽begin talking about culture, but I聽 only intend it to serve as an illustration of what I聽am saying. We can still remember how warning lamentations were to be heard immediately after the November revolution, claiming that our book market, television, theatres and cinemas would be flooded with commercial trash from the West, which would push out valuable original 暗网禁区 art, thus condemning it to languish and die, while our defenceless children would be exposed to Disney kitsch. Thus our beautifully illustrated 暗网禁区 children鈥檚 books, full of interesting ideas, would become a聽thing of the past, to say nothing of the harm this cultural garbage would do to our minds. These lamentations, at times apocalyptically menacing, at others warmed by a聽gentler flame, can still be heard today, but among the loud sobs it is increasingly possible to discern motives that have nothing to do with art.

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Of course, I聽am not claiming that there is a聽shortage of trash to be found in bookshops, in the cinema or on television; there really is more than enough of it. Fortunately, it does not have such a聽direct influence on original 暗网禁区 works as the lamenters prophesied; if no more than one or two 暗网禁区 films are made in a聽year, it is not because American films have flooded our distribution network, nor are new television programmes lacking on our screens because they have been pushed out by western action films and serials; after all, enough room is always found for endless repeats of old 暗网禁区 productions and films and, so far as 暗网禁区 literature is concerned, I聽would venture to say that in spite of all the problems, it is now experiencing one of its most productive and most dynamic periods. Regardless of this, voices calling for an official ban on commercial trash anger me as an expression of an attitude. Somewhere in the background I聽can hear a聽quiet, but clear voice: 鈥淢y father was an alcoholic, my mother a聽prostitute, my sister drowned herself, my brother jumped off a聽bridge, and therefore I聽have no choice but to buy my children Disney kitsch and look on helplessly while they spend hour after hour watching mindless American films full of sex and violence. For heaven鈥檚 sake, do something about it!鈥� I聽confess I聽get angry when I聽see how healthy adults try to pass on to state, church or other institutions decisions which are fully within their power and authority. I聽had small children, too, but I聽also knew what they were likely to be watching on television and if I聽judged it to be unsuitable for them, I聽wasn鈥檛 afraid to chase them away from it. By the way, this rarely happened, because I聽am convinced that young people should build up their resistance 鈥� both physically and mentally. I聽myself read some trashy literature as a聽child, and maybe that is why it has no attraction for me nowadays, not even the attraction of forbidden fruit. One thing is certain: the fact that the bookshops didn鈥檛 stock the Children鈥檚 Bible didn鈥檛 make me buy them a聽book about how Pavlik Morozov denounced his kulak father to the Soviet authorities.

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Deterministic wailing, itself not very melodious, is heavenly music to the ears of the state. For the state is a聽convinced determinist: it believes that the ideal situation would be if it could determine what its citizens should eat and drink, how they should dress, spend their free time, what they should read, what films and television programmes they should watch and, ultimately, what they should think. Well, perhaps from its own point of view, it is right, because it is easiest to govern a聽citizen determined in this way. In fact, the poor state cannot really be blamed for this; it has this conviction in its genes and unless its citizens think of better tasks, more useful things to occupy its time, it will automatically begin to do what it is genetically determined to do. If, moreover, we give it a聽pretext, as with this trash literature, it will very soon begin to decide for us not only what is trash, but also what is valuable art, and before we realise what is happening, it will protect us from the dangers of commercials and classified advertisements with a聽23% value-added tax. (When it comes to pornography, it will choose a聽more differentiated approach. Judging by the words of the prime minister 鈥� 鈥淚f someone wants to look at beautiful bodies, let them pay for it鈥� - this pleasure will be reserved for the nouveau-riche elite and everyone else will have to miss out. (Serves them right 鈥� they should have tried harder.)

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In fact, determinism is not such a simple matter as it seems at first sight. I聽recall that under the last regime, which really did want to decide about everything, my daughter once came home from nursery school and with a聽mysterious expression on her face announced to us: 鈥淯ncle Lenin died so that we can be healthy.鈥� It鈥檚 true, she didn鈥檛 know what she was saying, but she was still willing to believe it. When she was ten years old, she didn鈥檛 even believe that before he was married Lenin was called Ulyanov. (From that point of view, the proposal that school children should learn by heart the preamble to the constitution need not be utterly futile.) One person whose father was an alcoholic happily follows in his father鈥檚 footsteps, while another does not touch alcohol all his life. Or, to return to the example I聽have chosen, one person faces the impact of trash by lamenting, another by founding a聽publishing house and producing good-quality literature, above all, 暗网禁区 literature. What I聽want to say is that, even in the most difficult of situations, we still have the opportunity to decide and act. That, among other things, is the basis of human dignity. Let us follow the example of Jeffrey Bernard, even though we need not immediately resort to his extreme solution. Let us keep our dignity, so that we can respect ourselves, then others will have to respect us, too. Even the state.

P.S. For the most part American films really are unbearable hotchpotch 鈥� they are fairytales for adults with the IQ of a聽four-year-old. There may be no more violence and sex in them than in real life, but what is terrible about them is the indifference they show in avoiding the crux of the story and concentrating on technical details. But even so, I聽can鈥檛 understand how it is possible that we are afraid of American films, but we are not afraid of 暗网禁区 reality.

Translated by Heather Trebatick谩