Envy Is The Central Fact Of American Life

Gore Vidal (2006): The life of the late American satirist and critic Gore Vidal
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Profile of long term critic of US politics, Gore Vidal. Footage of his past is interspersed with interview with man himself in his 80s. He is asked to give direct opinions on various presidential administrations.
ABC Australia - Ref. 3185
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[@parsnipmcgee329]

At times I wish he was still here, and vigorous, to speak to the national nightmare, and at other times I'm glad he was spared.

[@dragonfly686868]

exactly what i've been thinking but still...wish he was still here. there is no one like him, not now, and probably not ever again. that generation has long gone.

[@derrickmiller3722]

@Jeff Whitman Thank you for caring and for your perspective. I welcome your thinking and attempts.If there are avenues (sites, contact info.) to learn more I'd be interested in exposing myself to your ideas. Hang in there.

[@hayleyanna2625]

I completely agree. What a dismal time we are living through. I suspect he would not be surprised by all of this.

[@tonyhayes4980]

I can’t imagine what he would have made of Donald

[@daleyoung87]

I can't imagine anyone would care. Why does an amazing economy upset you?

[@tonyhayes4980]

Trump makes George w look like an intellectual giant.not sure the economy is that great right now

[@kfitzz]

@@daleyoung87 How is the economy so amazing?

[@ChuckRosseel]

He would have agreed with Trump on many issues.

[@11Kralle]

@@ChuckRosseel He would have died laughing after Hillary lost in 2016.

[@writerconsidered]

2006 the worst President this country ever had, 2020 hold my beer.

[@maskedmarvyl4774]

I think he would be horrified, and convinced that the United States was at an end due to its complete corruption....

[@ezefinkielman4672]

2021 with the thing at the Capitol

[@michaelsix9684]

Gore was so interesting and stimulating to listen to--miss him

[@subversivelysurreal3645]

Michael Laman : Since #JulianAssange was Grabbed out of Ecuadorean Embassy, but watch : The Best Onslaught of Wit #GoreVidal has ever wrought!👉🏾 I have it, but you can find it by tapping in #GoreVidal addresses the United States Press Club! ( On the National Security State & Council )❤️✊🏾🌍

[@maskedmarvyl4774]

At 7:02 Gore Vidal mentions Lumumba. He was referring to Patrice Lumumba, the Secretary of the Interior of the Congo. In the 1950s Mr. Lumumba was the only one in the Congo who stood up to the United States that was plundering the natural resources of the Congo with impunity. Mr. Lumumba wanted to protect them from us and wanted a fair price paid for the rare earths and other materials US mining companies were extracting. Instead of negotiating a fair deal with the Congo, President Eisenhower ordered Mr. Lumumba to be assassinated, for the reason that he "might possibly have Communist sympathies". Eisenhower gave this order to murder Lumumba during a government meeting, and it shocked everyone present. Think about that: because Mr. Lumumba Might have had Communist sympathies, Eisenhower thought it justified him ordering his murder. It turned out this was garbage, of course. Eisenhower felt the US was entitled to extract whatever it wanted from the Congo, with no compensation paid whatsoever. One wonders how Eisenhower personally profited from this, in the form of campaign contributions or other personal enrichment. Mr. Lumumba was murdered, along with his two assistants, and all three men were dismembered by the police, and dissolved in acid. The reason we know this is that the police meticulously recorded how they murdered and dismembered the three men as proof that they had performed the hit on Lumumba and his two assistants, and these records very recently came to light. All three men had wives and small children, who never knew what happened to their fathers. Eisenhower ordered the murders of more foreign leaders than any other President in history, and felt that his position entitled him to. He once joked that "The President can kill anyone he wants". Eisenhower has blood on his hands for these three men, and others we will never know about. He is as much a murderer as any mob boss who ordered the murder of another person, for cash.

[@robynmitchell9563]

Masked Marvyl, thanks for that information, I'll read more about it.

[@DanDeLeoninthefield]

Envy among Americans has been fine tuned and weaponized.

[@Gottenhimfella]

Envy is the not so secret vice of the left. Jealousy is the vice of the right. IMO.

[@TheLinuxYes]

Divide and Conquer works.

[@abuferasabdullah]

Thanks Journeymen, really amazing.

[@JimCampbell777]

11:41 We live in a sort of bubble with laughing gas being pumped in all the time.

[@susansmiles2630]

Very apt description.

[@CarmenZynger]

Thanks for posting. I never saw this before. Love Gore Vidal. I wish he had finished the family unfinished business.

[@kristinpfanku3927]

Fascinating to hear Vidal's take on Churchill and Britain.

[@Tupunaforever]

what a great interview....

[@Jay_Flippen]

I agree. Envy/dumbness is the central fact of the American (media) life.

[@kathyhansen2820]

It's the central mindset of the democrat party.

[@TheLinuxYes]

@@kathyhansen2820 Greed and self centeredness is the mindset of the GOP.

[@jadezee6316]

Vidal was a giant....the greatest intellect of his day and also americas greatest historian.....he spoke the truth and everything he says applies today

[@TheLinuxYes]

America invented the TV commercial and Americans fell for it.

[@Grimenoughtomaketherobotcry]

They fell into it. And now they are at one with their phones that both monitor and influence them.

[@jebwiller]

Gore demonstrates the power of the self-educationed man.

[@tonyj59]

Gore vidal is a great man! I miss the old America! 1990s

[@woodstock6792]

Wish there were more video interviews

[@hamptontanguero]

What an amazing man. If someone like this exists today, he or she is being sidelined.

[@frankblangeard8865]

The title about envy isn't discussed in the video. I guess they needed a clickbait title and pulled one out of thin air.

[@gicheruster]

Would be interesting to see a discussion between Vidal and Mearsheimer

[@frankman7384]

Look no further than to the empire that NEVER FELL. She barely gets a mention, though she has a base (church) in every country round this globe. More power than any country or king could ever dream of having. Sigh...

[@TheLinuxYes]

.........never fell yet. your optimism is entertaining.

[@xanbex8324]

Vida does NOT commit the sin of being boring!

[@blazodeolireta]

1:45 that is something which was taught in diplomatics career. Don't know if it is now.

[@hansz488]

Called 911 and reported it all..

[@rje7232]

By circumstance I read a book by Mr Vidal, he is now one of my Literary Heroes.

[@ukrandr]

Which book?

[@rje7232]

@@ukrandr It was Julian, I would never have read one of his books in a million years, but I was in a strange situation, and out of lots of old tomes that seemed the most agreeable.

[@ukrandr]

@@rje7232Just curious, but why do you say you wouldn't have read one of his novels in a million years? And now that you have read Julian, will you read any of Gore's other works?

[@ashleymistletoe]

"Ur down payment is Alice spring." I think Vidal was being very subtle and the journalist obviously didn't catch it. Australia is turkey thanking Thanksgiving.

[@TheLinuxYes]

the corporate owned TV tells murcans what they want. and they fall for it every time.

[@munitia100]

look at that guy's face when he's listening. lol

[@F_Tim1961]

That Guy is Bob Carr , ex premier of NSW, Australia

[@DBEdwards]

Gore was a wit of profound insight and remarkable wisdom. I miss him greatly

[@JSwift-jq3wn]

One of the last of the American giants. The wealth of a nation is the collective consciousness of its exceptional citizens.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

He was never.

[@37Dionysos]

4:10, GV says Nixon "had no conscious mind," just a constant flow of the unconscious or blind drives of self-interest. Guess he'd need new vocabulary for Mr. Chump.

[@firewater9465]

Maybe it's the little gestures Christopher liked to use when being interviewed.

[@vanhanhhoang2246]

You try to give the video more brightness it will be great if you do

[@ryanj7517]

Vidal had the ability to make the most educated individuals feel uneducated. Lol. He has a very slick presentation and whit. An isolationist of the first order. To me, he seems like the “shock rock” author of his era. A lot of what he says is purposely divisive. He was keen to Iran and our plans in the region. Looks like we are formulating our way in now.

[@josephdegennaro6819]

How wise he was. The white male is the most ignorant. Im a white older male, and truer words were never spoken. We live in a bubble in America. Always being told how great we are. Yet more suicides, more drug addiction, no health care, terrible education system, shorter life span, and on and on. Very ,uneducated and selfish. They call Reagan a great president , and a wise man like Carter, a terrible one. Follow the downfall, the Republicans behind it all.

[@thedolphin5428]

I expected something a bit deeper, a big more frank and challenging from the mind of Bob Carr. Reckon he must have been a bit (unnecessarily) in awe of Vidal.

[@jadezee6316]

how nice of you to be able to get inside someones mind and judge what they themselves can not...you must be a very amazing person...can you share your distinctions with us?

[@thomaskirkpatrick1134]

Miss Him Daily...........

[@johneli495]

this is from 2006

[@kristinpfanku3927]

Yes. So he was commenting on George Bush at the beginning.

[@alexandernay5631]

He's forgetting about Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

[@justgivemethetruth]

13:01 - What would Gore Vidal have done about 9-11 .... here is a very interesting answer.

[@kiwitrainguy]

We don't hear much about Interpol these days.

[@ukrandr]

@@kiwitrainguy Isn't it always mentioned, at the beginning of a DVD movie for example, concerning international copyright law? And that, to me, is the extent of "hearing about them." BTW, I remember voicing the same solution Gore mentions to a warmongering co-worker. That this is a police action, not a reason to wage war.

[@neverbeforeseenvideos2249]

2021 and we still miss you Mr. Vidal. Many Americans have now less than a 10second attention span, thanks to #tiktok 😨

[@kiwitrainguy]

...or a 150 character attention span.

[@ambessitb7196]

11:24 Isn't it so true?

[@tonyj59]

Legend!

[@glicmathan1771]

I miss Gore’s perspectives.

[@bradpirochta9293]

Well I agree with this guy about one thing. He did live in a bubble.

[@susampson278]

who is the interviewer? add to description

[@mistercut8331]

Bob Carr - Australian labor politican and foreign minister 2012- 13, best known as premier of NSW 1995-2013 and just like Prime Minster Kevin Rudd loved being the centre of attention especially on the world stage he is a huge history buff

[@tarnopol]

@@mistercut8331 Thanks!

[@Marxist2]

Great historian, writer, thinker, satirist who deals in facts when he speaks about this think stinking country.

[@johnsmith1474]

This is like an ad for getting some exercise and retaining some energy in your old age, so you don't wind up like Gore. He's brilliant but depressingly low energy. His defense of Hillary Clinton is sad to watch.

[@dannydano8072]

Not envy but ambition is the central truth of American life. Each of us is born with Icarus' wings and it is our duty and our pleasure to reach towards the sun.

[@StephenMortimer]

Oh crap .. go visit Norway for envy

[@redknight1825]

That is fascinating, can you expand on that?

[@TheLinuxYes]

@@redknight1825 well, for one, Norway ranks higher on the world democracy index than Murca. or do you prefer run amuck capitalism and fascism??

[@michelegosse7116]

even as a wellfare state, inequality showing up there too, already to the point of miscontent. it is not about envy, but harmony. Neoconneolib world divides and crushes , you are the next one, not a vital fresh air to breathe

[@MissPerriwinkle]

O gosh to have had a cocktail with him....

[@tarnopol]

Nicely done; had never seen this before. The quip about Hillary I’d read, I think, and it’s a shame she never showed that real side of her. We might be in a very different situation now, and I say that as a full on Bernie-Bro. :) She’d’ve been oodles better than this maniac.

[@lucianopavarotti2843]

@7:26 Perhaps because they are so far away from everything, Australians have a ridiculously exaggerated view of their importance. I was in Sydney once and amused to see that the Tom Hanks series 'Pacific' -- about how the US beat Japan -- had been renamed "The Battle for Australia" on local tv...

[@firewater9465]

I've reasoned at the absurdity of the thought that he may be Christopher Hitchens father.

[@captur69]

You may have been drinking fire water...

[@firewater9465]

@@captur69 Christopher would drink to that maybe, maybe I had not at that time I can't recall.

[@luismanuel2612]

If Gore Vidal thought Bush was the worst president of the USA, I wonder what he would say about Trump. Vidal replicates all the clichés about the decadence of American democracy that today are the core ideology of trumpism and the far right: the praise of isolationism; America as a cage of civil liberties; the corruption of Washington politics; the end of individual liberties, the conspiracies of the political power, etc.. It is very concerning to see the late Vidal replicating the worst arguments of American far-right

[@captur69]

Probably be happy trump didn't invade another country ' or murder thousands of people as most president do...

[@thefakenewsnetwork8072]

Long live freedom and democratic communism

[@Stop-and-listen]

Gore Vidal was prophetic.

[@is5856]

@ 14:30

[@Horndogthehorneddog]

love how gore uses his cane to embellish his own points

[@charliebrown5755]

Nunley Johnson writer

[@donnacobb4027]

Gore Vidal was a very interesting man but he was very bitter and angry that he did not become president

[@tapasyatyaga4041]

Yes, I think you are correct.

[@louisgonzalez8846]

And he very should.!!!

[@ukrandr]

Much more like a disappointment in our Presidents and their cronies that becomes anger and bitterness.

[@ardien.535]

Gore would have lost his mind seeing Trump.

[@CLASSICALFAN100]

GV would have **LED THE CHARGE** storming the Capitol!!

[@geanettepartington691]

Covetousness is the central fact of American life -- and that WAS a "death penalty' commandment in the BIBLE, too.

[@cindymaceda2999]

You see, even Gore Vidal wouldn’t have invaded Afghanistan & Iraq : a total waste of men, materiel & US taxes.

[@ouss]

hillary remind them of their first wife

[@SobersRajakumar]

God, you took this American Spirit too early. Vidal’s intellectual sword would’ve made conmen lose their mind

[@opinionday0079]

old people have a tendancy to get very depressed and paranoid.

[@CLASSICALFAN100]

But, not this one! (ROFL)

[@Johnconno]

Vidal spoke to Australians?

[@uttaradit2]

Churchill screwed the UK outta the empire

[@tatuloa]

As for 45 , he would of said , I rest my case , don't hate Trump , he is simply the American right wing Turkey well cooked at last .....

[@hansz488]

The #Folkfordumbningsproject.

[@Josh-vj5ip]

Hahaha he has been the best president

[@solunasunrise]

Envy is definetly a supporting column of capitalism

[@AkeN996]

How poethic. But pointless...

[@solunasunrise]

no thats nearly a fact .... if thousands wouldn t be envy of vip´s and pop stars then it wouldn t be all to good for economy

[@solunasunrise]

Alexandru Nan Ernest Faschism is A Product of Capitalism ... its waht happens wehn after the free unregulated market fights the last one sucks all others up , and then they can do waht ever they want with the people .... sure it can also be provided one or another way but basicly fascism is where the regime goes and in hand with the industry or gets controlled by it to suck the people dry and use them at their will ... .... i see that its a waste of time to tell some american brainwashed guys how it works ... waht ever ... have fun in WW3 guys at least we in europe will not have to deal with nuklear blasts ,I´m gonna ignore this topic here now by youtube function... so don t answer i will not see the notification ... farewell and good rest life

[@AkeN996]

solunasunrise Of course, why would you include the communism in the criticism used in your last comment? It's surely not because you're specifically supporting it... *sarcasm*

[@prestonstokes2658]

+Alexandru Nan Ernest capitalism runs on envy on envy or desire it's like basic principles of the market

[@Known-unknowns]

Grumpy

[@mattgarbe2607]

Dear Australian cousins, this man Gore Vidal was a great and gifted novelist, and I've read most of his work. On the other hand he was a crap human being, he was absolutely laughable as a historian, and hideously laughable as a truth-teller. Be forewarned.....

[@acohen1980]

haha. ..you're attempting to employ a stock critique that GV used on poseurs....fuck off dimwit.

[@thedolphin5428]

Many of us already know what you say. Many famous Americans are caught up in their self-opinionated self-importance.

[@tapasyatyaga4041]

Yes I agree