"Albert Einstein. The world as I see it (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

pursuit of scientific truth, detached from the practical interests of
everyday life, ought to be treated as sacred by every
Government, and it is in the highest interests of all that honest
servants of truth should be left in peace. This is also undoubtedly
in the interests of the Italian State and its prestige in the eyes of
the world.

Hoping that my request will not fall on deaf ears, I am, etc.

A. E.


Interviewers

To be called to account publicly for everything one has said, even in
jest, an excess of high spirits, or momentary anger, fatal as it must be in
the end, is yet up to a point reasonable and natural. But to be called to
account publicly for what others have said in one's name, when one cannot
defend oneself, is indeed a sad predicament. "But who suffers such a
dreadful fate?" you will ask. Well, everyone who is of sufficient interest
to the public to be pursued by interviewers. You smile incredulously, but I
have had plenty of direct experience and will tell you about it.

Imagine the following situation. One morning a reporter comes to you
and asks you in a friendly way to tell him something about your friend N. At
first you no doubt feel something approaching indignation at such a
proposal. But you soon discover that there is no escape. If you refuse to
say anything, the man writes: "I asked one of N.'s supposedly best friends
about him. But he prudently avoided my questions. This in itself enables the
reader to draw the inevitable conclusions." There is, therefore, no escape,
and you give the following information: "Mr. N. is a cheerful,
straightforward man, much liked by all his friends. He can find a bright
side to any situation. His enterprise and industry know no bounds; his job
takes up his entire energies. He is devoted to his family and lays
everything he possesses at his wife's feet. . . "

Now for the reporter's version : "Mr. N. takes nothing very seriously
and has a gift for making himself liked, particularly as he carefully
cultivates a hearty and ingratiating manner. He is so completely a slave to
his job that he has no time for the considerations of any non-personal
subject or for any mental activity outside it. He spoils his wife
unbelievably and is utterly under her thumb. . ."

A real reporter would make it much more spicy, but I expect this will
be enough for you and your friend N. He reads this, and some more like it,
in the paper next morning, and his rage against you knows no bounds, however
cheerful and benevolent his natural disposition may be. The injury done to
him gives you untold pain, especially as you are really fond of him.

What's your next step, my friend? If you know, tell me quickly, so that