Mailer-McLuhan Debate (1968)

It's 40 years old, but Norman Mailer and Marshall McLuhan's thoughts on violence, alienation and the electronic envelope really stuck a cord with me. I'm pretty new to Norman Mailer (just read "Deer Park"), and I'd never encountered McLuhan until this video, but I'm now a pretty big fan of both.

I met Mailer at a wedding a few years ago. I knew who he was, but hadn't read any of his books or essays. He didn't say anything to me, we just shook hands and he nodded his head. He seemed much more interested in the woman I was with, my then-wife. Mailer always had an eye for the ladies.

Anyway, the video is almost 30 minutes long, but well worth the time. And I won't pretend I could wrap my head around all of it. I listened to a couple parts twice -- okay, three times -- because my brain is allergic to some types of knowledge.

Norman Mailer on Journalists

"If a person is not talented enough to be a novelist, not smart enough to be a lawyer, and his hands are too shaky to perform operations, he becomes a journalist."

~Norman Mailer