<\/p>\n
Would you say that this is more prominent in the Czech Republic than in other countries, that we don\u2019t pay enough attention to these talented people?<\/b><\/p>\n
I think that not only do we fail to acknowledge them, but we don\u2019t even know how to work with them. These exceptionally talented children just flow through our education system spontaneously. They are not developed individually; they\u2019re often ridiculed for being different.<\/span> It\u2019s very common for the really successful people to tell me about how they were bullied as children. I\u2019m not saying I\u2019m the successful and talented one, but I\u2019ll give you an example. I have Asperger\u2019s, and when I was in school, it wasn\u2019t really recognized, it wasn\u2019t tackled. People said I had St. Vitus\u2019 dance (informal name for Sydenham\u2019s syndrome, author\u2019s note), or that I had ants in my pants. The teachers dealt with it by forbidding me to attend the after-school club, because I was disrupting the group. I was \u201cdisrupting\u201d it in a way that I started a comic book manufacture there, we used our creativity to make things, which moved me and the other kids forward, but the system didn\u2019t know how to work with that, so it persecuted, me rather than letting me teach the kids to draw. We don\u2019t know how to capture those talents, and maybe we don\u2019t know how to develop them either. We rely on them to develop on their own, and then we\u2019ll reap the fruits. By taxing their billion-euro businesses, we make money as a society.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let me go back to what you said about spotlighting the starlets. On the BBC and US TV stations, the hosts are older people who have worked their way up, so to speak. Here, the presenters are often models and Miss contestants. Is that related to who our role models are?<\/b><\/p>\n The UK has its tabloids too, they just don\u2019t reach us here, while the BBC does. So, we don\u2019t need to look at the Daily Sun and British models. But to some extent, there is a kind of tabloidization of culture. The high culture… and now again it\u2019s terribly formulaic to divide culture into low and high, but it\u2019s just that the mainstream is content with low culture. Popular films that break records at the cinema are unlikely to develop society, because they\u2019re consumer-oriented. It\u2019s fun, we laugh at it. Like going to the coliseum to watch gladiator fights, that didn\u2019t lead to innovation in Roman engineering either. I\u2019m worried that culture is being neglected a bit, because culture is the breeding ground for progress. In this country, education and science are underfunded, but culture is the Cinderella. There\u2019s really not enough money for culture in our country, there\u2019s no targeted system development of whole industries. An example is the gaming industry, which has long been subsidized in the world. Scandinavian game studios have huge subsidies, because the state knows that the money will come back to it, there is some prediction, whereas here these things are only just developing, they\u2019re in their infancy. The local creative industries don\u2019t have nearly as much support as in other countries, and they\u2019re losing competitiveness.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Czech computer games in particular are communicated quite a lot by the Czech government even abroad, isn\u2019t that so?<\/b><\/p>\n They are now, but a few years ago it wasn’t the case. It\u2019s only now that the tide is turning again.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n But the Czech games industry is quite well known in the world.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Definitely, but it\u2019s still a relatively new thing. The Department of Game Design at the Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague is new, it should have been established 20 years ago. We\u2019re simply behind the trends. What\u2019s already standard in Europe, we adopt with a delay. We are so surrounded by mountains here that we are a bit isolated from both the West and the East in our basin. As we\u2019re here in such a peculiar region, we tend to pick up the trends late, we\u2019re resistant to trends.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, you could say that we Czechs are \u201cthe latest adopters\u201d?<\/b><\/p>\n Yes. The \u201cearly adopters\u201d in our country are definitely just the top of the demographic curve, which means that our grandmothers are still learning to use mobile phones, but mobile phones have been here for a quarter of a century, so – and I don\u2019t want to offend the elderly now, just giving an example – some things take us a very long time to adapt to, and we\u2019re very resistant to them. On the other hand, we are loyal and very consistent. That\u2019s why Nova TV is still so popular here today, because it simply shaped a whole generation of viewers. That\u2019s why people use the Seznam search engine and shop on Alza, and not Amazon, they\u2019re extremely loyal to their brands, and they have a problem adapting even to newer, more advanced things and media.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n If we compare, for example, a Czech and an American or Japanese senior citizen, there is also a big difference, of course, due to the history and economy. There are certainly more reasons. Just like in the US you see far more people with disabilities on the streets, because the much younger buildings are logically better accommodating to that…<\/b><\/p>\n Just as it\u2019s a problem to turn Prague into a cycling power, while Prague would really deserve bike lanes, but our streets are so narrow, they weren\u2019t bombed out during WWII like German cities, they weren\u2019t designed on greenfield sites, like the dynamically growing Copenhagen, where entire neighbourhoods are suddenly springing up. The initial conditions are not easy, we\u2019re here in a kind of open-air museum that we actually want to adjust to the 21st century. We\u2019re not completely successful, there are barriers, there are very strong, entrenched traditions and some customs and axioms that are not to be broken. And seniors are a great example. But there is a simple answer with them: communism. These people were kept behind the borders,<\/span> they were held back, their wings were clipped. Our grandparents were people who lived their productive years under Nazism and Communism. And we still carry this relic, this burden, along with us. My grandmother, who is now a grandmother in New York City, danced in clubs and went on holidays to Mexico and San Francisco, and lived a very different life. That\u2019s still a relic of totalitarianism.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n You said that your children, the Alpha Generation, would no longer be burdened by this. I agree, but at the same time, I think they\u2019re still going to be influenced a little bit by parents who were raised by parents who lived through that time.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n It’s a stigma, even if we think it\u2019s not, it\u2019s in our genes. But at the same time, we can think of it in a positive way. We are authentically afraid of Communism, and my children, who have not come into contact with Communism, and it\u2019s some obscure historical thing for them, are subconsciously afraid of it in the same way that our parents were afraid of Nazism. It\u2019s some kind of leverage against these trends returning. Once we become guileless and trusting and maybe just see an old film, read a nostalgic book, and think that it was actually interesting, that it was sort of a bizarre but actually cool thing, then there\u2019s a danger that these things will come back in cycles. Like fashion trends return, political trends do too. That\u2019s what I\u2019m concerned about.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jakub, you have children, and you have an advertising agency, so you must be thinking about young consumers who operate differently than us older ones. How do you perceive them? Are you concerned when you see the kind of influencers they follow, for example?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019m not worried about what\u2019s going to happen to our kids and their kids in particular, because that\u2019s an age-old archetype. If you asked a Late Gothic dad what his Renaissance son was wearing, what kind of trousers and shoes he was wearing, he\u2019d grumble. We find it hilarious today, it means those kids will grow up too, those kids will have kids of their own.<\/span> They\u2019ll find and stabilize their own hierarchy of values. And to me, it\u2019s absolutely legitimate that they relate to influencers, when we were a TV generation that related to MTV starlets. What\u2019s the difference between my friends liking the Spice Girls and my daughter liking, like, Ment? (a Czech influencer) That, on the contrary, is fine, and it\u2019s often the case that those influencers themselves grow up and follow different paths.<\/span> Either they quit the trade, or they become educators and spread awareness, as has happened to Kovy (a Czech Youtuber and influencer), who is actually turning into an opinion leader in a positive direction, even though at the beginning it was just goofy videos.<\/span> I think kids always need their idols, and I don\u2019t see the difference between having their hands glued to the phone or me not letting go of the joystick or keyboard for the 1990s games. We spent years in front of computers, never left the room, and we survived. The only thing that might be alarming is that humans have evolved as an organism for millions of years, and suddenly we have mobile phones, we\u2019re hunched over them. There\u2019s a downside, kids today have a terrible problem with motor skills.<\/span><\/p>\n I think overall this is a threat, but they\u2019ll come to grips with it. They\u2019ll just cope, because man has always been adaptable as an organism, and they\u2019ll find a way, they\u2019ll raise their head. They\u2019ll realise that they\u2019re doing something like this, and they\u2019ll start taking more care of themselves. There\u2019s a huge trend now of wellbeing, healthy eating, healthy exercise. I wouldn\u2019t be worried about a further existence. Besides, what other choice do we have, otherwise it\u2019d drive us mad, and it\u2019s just that we\u2019ve got a different perspective. We grew up on something else. But it\u2019s still the same. On the other hand, the only thing I\u2019m sorry about is that they\u2019re competing against the whole world. That\u2019s their only disadvantage. I used to compete with the guys in our neighbourhood, you could still get a foothold there on some level, but now you\u2019re competing with the global community, and you don\u2019t stand a chance there.<\/span> The vast majority of people don\u2019t have a chance to be the best, and maybe don\u2019t even have a chance to be in the middle, they\u2019re somewhere at the bottom, and those are the reasons why children\u2019s mental health is a huge issue, and we\u2019re failing miserably in the Czech Republic in this area. We have an acute shortage of child psychologists and psychiatrists. We have an autistic child at home, so we know. Finding care for him was a process for years, but I think that society is not stupid, and that it will hear the demand and respond, and that things will improve in the coming years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n But working with autistic people has improved a lot nowadays, hasn\u2019t it? They\u2019re in demand in companies too, they\u2019re very good at certain areas or activities.<\/b><\/p>\n Haha, I can confirm that. Autism is not a disability, it’s a superpower, a superpower that comes with some negatives though. For example, you\u2019ll be a genius chess player, and you\u2019ll wet the bed, or you won\u2019t even be able to make tea, but you\u2019ll just be in the top 10 experts in the world. There are always some counterbalances, I\u2019m brilliant at something, I\u2019m going to fall short at something. No one is perfect at everything. None of us.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do you think that if we Czechs just had a higher self-esteem, that half of the problems – and we have already touched on some of them in the interview or in your lecture – would not exist?<\/b><\/p>\n Yeah, to get up, stop nagging, and start doing something. It\u2019s the bane of the Czech nation that we sit around drinking beer and moan about how everything sucks. It\u2019s not going to get us anywhere, it\u2019s just a hindrance. Get up and start doing something. The hardest thing for a painter is the blank canvas, the hardest thing is to start, but once you do, it comes naturally. The worst thing is to take that first step, that\u2019s for sure. When you\u2019re skydiving, it\u2019s also the hardest thing to jump out of the plane, but then as you\u2019re falling and gaining speed, it\u2019s fun… So, it\u2019s about not being scared of that first step, and having a healthy self-confidence. You mustn\u2019t overdo it with self-confidence, so it doesn\u2019t turn out the way it does in politics, for example, where there is a lot of self-confidence for my taste, and it is not proportional to the value the politician brings to society.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n During your lecture, you asked the audience what we Czechs are good at. I always found it interesting how Czechs are so proud to say ice hockey or beer. Of course, it\u2019s great that we have such wealth or heritage, but don\u2019t we have it in our minds that \u201cthis is who we are, the beer drinkers\u201d, that that\u2019s enough? Not for me.<\/b><\/p>\n We\u2019re the best at ice hockey, we\u2019re the best at drinking beer, and we\u2019re the best at colon cancer. We have the most developed porn industry, and the most meth labs in the world. So yes, there may be a lot of superlatives, but for me, those are not satisfactory metrics. I may like beer, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the kind of thing we should be bragging to the world about, because it somehow frames our image, and we will forever remain that alcoholic eastern periphery at that point.<\/span> And if we\u2019re good at ice hockey, I\u2019m not belittling the fact that everyone in, say, Canada will know us. In the ice hockey regions we will be recognized, and it is a good promotion of the Czech Republic, because the Czech Republic doesn\u2019t know how to promote itself, we fail in this as a country, we really don\u2019t know how to self-promote, so at least something, but I\u2019d much prefer if we promoted ourselves by having leading scientists and leading experts in niche fields, that we are a nanotechnology superpower, that we have the best lasers in the world, that we make the best equipment for satellites, that we are trendsetters and innovators. That, I think, will ultimately do us a lot more good than chasing a piece of rubber over frozen water. But when we win the Ice Hockey World Championship, people are over the moon.<\/span> The nation unites around the hockey puck, people get intoxicated by the unity and togetherness, all the cars honk, and everyone waves flags. The moment a Czech scientist wins an international award, or when Dana Dr\u00e1bov\u00e1 recently received a medal from the Japanese emperor… I learned this from her personal Facebook page. I wouldn\u2019t have known if I didn\u2019t have Dana Dr\u00e1bov\u00e1 in my friends list. And I think that\u2019s more important than winning the ice hockey championship.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do you think that if there were more women leaders of world powers that global events would be different? That there might not be so many wars? The masculine world is more aggressive.<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s actually a distrust of female elites, at least among the chauvinistic world of high-ranking men. They feel threatened that they could suddenly be ruled by someone who might be the source of their inferiority complexes, because maybe they had a strict mother, or maybe their female classmates did better in exams than they did. And they take it hard. Men are driven by hormones, they\u2019re hunters, and they feel like they\u2019re conquering the outside world, while women are by the fire, taking care of the kids. I\u2019m a huge advocate of women in politics and in business leadership positions, because women cultivate discussion. But women often have more complex, complicated relationships than men, which is sometimes a bit of a disadvantage. A man will use Occam\u2019s razor, and slash the debate, it\u2019s a more straightforward way, but hand on heart. How many women have started wars? How many women dictators have there been? It’s going to be in the single digits. Yeah, there may have been a Lady Mao behind Mao Zedong and the murdering of millions of Chinese, along with her husband, but those women are relatively few. All these conflicts, the testosterone muscle flexing, the architects of these events are men, so for me, definitely more women in politics, because politics is being cultivated by them, and it\u2019s to our benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some people respond to criticism, others to praise. What do you think works for the Czechs? I think we\u2019re a bit timid, without the necessary self-confidence. I\u2019m going back to the unmown lawn example. If you say to your neighbour in the Czech Republic that you would like him to mow it, that you want the place to be nice, I think he\u2019s more likely to dislike you than to get down to it. So, it\u2019s more the praise, isn\u2019t it?<\/b><\/p>\n Well, I guess praise works for everyone in the world, but I think it\u2019s more like hope. If you tell a person the benefits, and give them an option that is advantageous to them – and we Czechs are pragmatists, opportunists to a certain extent – it will sink in for him, and he may rethink or change his behaviour. I tell people that we Czechs have hope that we can really be inspiring in many fields, that we\u2019re not a small country, that we\u2019re a medium-sized country, and that we are exceptional in many things. I think one can then shift the paradigm of how one perceives the world in a positive way, that it can\u2019t affect them in a bad way. That means not scaring him, not telling him: if you don\u2019t do this, we will be the worst ones. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the right thing to do, but rather the opposite: If you do it, we\u2019ll be good. Turn it into hope, people need hope. They\u2019ve been hearing for a long time that everything\u2019s messed up here, but scaring people is not the way to go. They\u2019re going to get deeper into their social bubble, lock themselves in their homes, and run away to their weekend houses, like they did under Socialism. That\u2019s not a solution. The solution is to say things can be really good. We have a huge potential. We just need to start doing something systematic. And a little bit is really enough. It\u2019s not that we’re all going to run out and become Japanese salarymen, working from morning to morning.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Interview with creative director, idea maker, filmmaker, and writer Jakub Hussar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,31,38],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jakub](\"https:\/\/www.getsmart.cz\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/getsmart-40-300x200.jpg\")
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