Gore Vidal - National amnesia (Q & A)

[Starfury]

This is a short but excellent interview with Gore Vidal. As usual, he pulls no punches and speaks his mind. This is from 3/9/06, hopefully it's not a duplicate.

Has this president made this worse, by being so antagonistic to the media?

Oh, who cares? He doesn’t run the country, a handful of corporations run it. No, this is not conspiracy theory, this is conspiracy analysis. The country is very tightly led with corporate goals which push out anything of a national nature. We’re out of it. It’s like being in a bubble. I’ve spent a great deal of my life living across the water, and someone said, “How can you follow American politics when you’ve had your house in Italy for all those years?” And I said, “Well, that’s the only way I can find out what’s going on in America, because the foreign press, at least in Western Europe, is quite good.”

Do you think that those effects are lasting, or can they be reversed?

Well, is the glass half full or half empty? I think the damage done to our system by the last 20 years — of which he’s just the most ludicrous example — is probably irreparable. We may not have time enough to restore the republic. We just lost it. I mean, when the attorney general of the United States goes before Congress and just says the president can pick and choose what he wants to do, and that his wartime powers are inherent – well, if that dumb-dumb Gonzales has ever read the Constitution, he knows that there are no inherent presidential rights, they are enumerated in the Constitution; they’re named. And there’s a great many things he cannot do. For one, he can’t go eavesdropping without getting a court order — that’s the law.

Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter’s information seems like vitally important stuff. Is the country too polarized to listen?

They’re not used to hearing anything. The only art form that the United States ever developed is the TV commercial. That’s our Sistine Chapel. That’s our masterpiece. That’s a very rare art form, but it’s not very informative. Now you’ve got to get away from advertising. Just through sheer repetition, which is the secret of advertising, these two fools in office have convinced the American people, these 60, 70 percent, that was responsible for 9/11. He didn’t have anything to do with 9/11. No, I don’t think he was a nice man and I don’t care – he’s an Iraqi and I’m an American. We Americans should not worry about Iraqi leaders.

That’s a pretty grim picture. Do you still enjoy bringing this news to the people?

I don’t think enjoy is the correct verb, but I feel one has to do it. You know I was brought up in the ’30s; I remember Hitler, I remember American fascism, which was fairly lively. If you don’t speak out, things just die and shut down. We’re going to have no national memory of anything, and if you are not informed about your past, you have no present. And God help you in the future.

Lurking in there somewhere is a message of hope.

I think there is. There’s a moment when things get so bad that people do act. But one certainly doesn’t want to wait for a revolution. I’m all for evolution, and we’re ready for some.

http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/article.php?id=3177&IssueNum=10

I recommend reading the rest of the session.

[FloridaPat]

1. Pretty much nailed it on the head. I wonder who the "handful of

corporations" are? He did mention oil. Then there are banks & insurance.

[Jim__]

2. Great article.

My favorite quote: ...The only art form that the United States ever developed is the TV commercial. That’s our Sistine Chapel. That’s our masterpiece. ...

Whenever I watch TV, I think the most entertaining part is the advertising.

[katty]

3. luv Gore-he is spot on, as always-my fav line...

Oh, who cares? he doesn't run the country....yea, that's obvious!

[TheBaldyMan]

4. I don't agree with him with what he says about not having

a political party that can address the problems the US has, he said:

I would say nothing is ultimately irreparable, but the Constitution, as we have enjoyed it over the years and as it has sustained us, has been given some death blows. (...) And how do you start to repair it? That’s a real problem for a real political party. Unfortunately, we don’t have them at the moment.

I'd say there are politicians out there that do want to tackle the problems and are honest and competent enough to do it. Kuchinich and McKinney spring to mind. There may not be a party out there but there are certainly the politicians that want to do so.

edited for typos