William Buckley Interviews Norman Mailer on Firing Line (1968) Part 4

[@speckled2316]

What happened to public intellectuals?

[@christopherdennis4280]

Mailer is running circles around Buckely and is very satisfied watching the pompous and confused Buckely get snookered into eating (ie taking seriously) the bullshit Mailer is dishing.

[@justincase4812]

Good example of egomaniacal windbaggery.

[@polymath7]

I'm very surprised Buckley doesn't assert that he *has* read Marx. For anyone who would be any kind of social theorist or political thinker, Marx is flatly inescapable. Perhaps he has indeed read Marx and simply doesn't wish to be bothered to provide an explanation for those who would find this curiously incongruous. It is after all astonishing how many people don't understand that attention does not imply approval; I once got a nasty look from a public librarian for checking out Mein Kampff.

[@curtiskretzer8898]

Buckley's trying to keep the flighty Mailer on topic,but Mailer's thought pattern is like a bb in a box car

[@pumkinpi2]

"I'm all for Castro. He is remarkable man." Murder and oppression didn't seem to bother Mailer.

[@matthewtreacy6994]

Buckley nails Mailer on how he can support Castro who denied Cubans all the rights Mailer cherishes. Left cannot square that circle.

[@pumkinpi2]

@xtrmsprts Both men had their knives out. It counts in their favor that they still had a conversation, even as they despised the ideas of the other. I wish we saw more of this today, and less of the habit of shouting down an opposing point of view, or resorting to mockery.

[@KLASSCULTURE]

Are they sitting on the FLOOR? and WHY???

[@roloug95]

This guy is probably one of the most unlikable personalities in history.

[@RagdollRalph]

+roloug95 Which one?

[@roloug95]

RagdollRalph Mailer

[@RagdollRalph]

roloug95 Well he is talking a load of confusing bull i do give you that, even as a liberal myself.

[@roloug95]

RagdollRalph he's such so pretentious and pseudo-superior

[@david-pb4bi]

@@roloug95 you said Mailer because you are stupid

[@stephenkurpis343]

Wouldn't Mailer's social ideal (around 3:30) be better described as Structuralism rather than Existentialism? The idea that every group plays a role in the development of society; that, to use Mailer's example, criminals and police exist in a symbiotic relationship. Were criminality to disappear completely from society tomorrow, so would the need for police officers. A better description could be that he was intensely appreciative of craftsmanship, regardless of the ramifications of the craftsman's action.

[@faisceauhh]

Buckley looks so damn bored at the start. I can empathize.

[@donluchitti]

I saw his swipe at Vidal, the expression on his face when he said it, the expression on Vidal's face when he said it and everything in between confirmed what you say, imo

[@KLASSCULTURE]

His EYES are weird A F

[@Saoff]

I love how Buckley rolls his eyes and inhales deeply when Mailer says that he knows more about communism....haha, and i equally love how oblivious Mailer is to it.

[@Raulbikcube]

He's trying very hard to restrain himself.

[@Avidcomp]

I'm not sure who I dislike most out of these two. Both are academics, intelligent to a fault, the fault being they're both mystics. Mailer is masterly with language, wielding it to conclude non-clarity. He stresses points with conviction before falling along the camp of "we can't know". Buckley is also erudite and not at all obfuscatory like Mailer, but verbosely honest. It's what he doesn't say (often) that hides his deviousness. I'm glad neither of these two became political leaders although Buckley sadly had a chance at it. If you throw in Saul Alinsky, I'd have a list of three people I would not want at my dinner party.

[@Raulbikcube]

Is it me or is Mailer almost a little bit charming at points, here? I'm coming off of that Dick Cavett ep, so of course he would look better here than in that video, but I...don't hate him here. I don't LIKE him, but he's certainly less punchable.

[@briansimerl9027]

"A mass murderer is not a criminal." Mailer seems to be easily outpaced. As always he can blame it on the booze. An easy excuse for basic stupidity.

[@BranVan10k]

it's not like saying that at all. one cannot 'practice' Marxism beyond simply espousing its theory and then putting it into legislative script.

[@ahbevegede]

this is the first conversation i've seen with mailer and he's a little off the wall for me...and thats saying something. praising murderers for their "quality"? c'mon now.

[@johnjohnson68510]

7:36, Bill gives another left jab while Norman keeps working close with his fist against palm. Just before that, note the way Bill holds hils pen like a barricade.

[@jameselixson5907]

Well, I know what your saying, and you're right, but with Marx all the SOB did was scribble and scribble, therefore to read him is to know him.

[@WintersWar]

mailer was always about head games. he's much too obvious.

[@baddogone42]

Buckley had one hell of a time herding this cat...

[@pumkinpi2]

@countertreason It was nice to see Mailer asked to defend his babbling attempts at being an oracle. Usually he was interviewed by fawning sympathizers, even them he was able to be disagreeable. I rather agree with Hitchens' observation that a man writes as he speaks. In that, I wonder at Mailer's success. Then again, a certain part of our society has always been easily entertained, as long as the dancing dog on stage circles to the Left.

[@kp9952]

Hitchens said 'If you know how to talk, you know how to write'; that's the not the same as what you are claiming he said.

[@CARDUELIS999]

I just love the way Buckley studies his subject.

[@pugay69]

Mailer looks like G.W. Bush

[@skins017]

Mailer looks like George W.

[@BiscuitHead22]

well then why point it out?

[@knicks9899]

Buckley's a closet queen. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[@david-pb4bi]

He is definitely a queen not that there is anything wrong with that but also a conservative everything wrong with that Kramer.

[@Raulbikcube]

david williams Something wrong about being in the closet and being conservative, though. At least the kind of conservative who yells homophobic slurs at gay people on live tv. And who suggested that H.I.V. positive men should be forced to get a tattoos on their butts to indicate that they're positive.

[@tro1000]

"I think we had better stop and rescue that from banality" Great line.

[@freddiefernandez]

I think it's funny when Mailer says, "I know all about Marxism. I've read about it." That's like saying, "I know all about driving. I've read books on it." Mailer says some really weird things sometimes.

[@nimbydimby]

No. He differentiates between Marx and the so called 20th century communism. He's got the simile just about right about Jesus Vs. a Christian sect.

[@bonnie3447]

Buckley was nothing more than a toff with incredibly poor judgement.

[@HomeAtLast501]

So I'm supposed to pretend that two grown men affecting play-acted, non-geographic accents, and having simplistic, sophomoric, undergraduate debates are geniuses............