Stephen Fry - Hay Sessions 2009 4/6

Part 4 of 6

Stephen Fry talks to Peter Florence at the Hay Festival (in Hay-On-Wye) in May 2009 about life, politics, America and culture.

The discussion continues on Alistair Cooke and H. L. Mencken, with, again, some ancdotes from Alistair Cooke. Fry says that Cooke was a great chronicler which leads to the next question.

Does being famous preclude Fry from observation? Fry talks about the internet, social media etc

The discussion then goes back to American politics and the 47% that didn't vote for Obama.

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[pointynipples]

Could someone say who is the historian Fry mentions - Menken? Menkene? tried to google but no luck.

[langsense]

he's in the tags.. it's H. L. Menken

[AppleofRoy]

its H.L Mencken

[langsense]

Mencken was someone else, a journalist.

[AppleofRoy]

August Mencken (the brother of H.L Mencken) was a historian... H.L Mencken was a journalist, essayist, and so on so borders on historian.

[langsense]

it seems my research let me down.. i did check beforehand to make sure I had his name correct, something went wrong somewhere.

My apologies.

[REMnut12]

I love his socks!

[caliguy92]

why is your You Tube account name "pointynipples"?

[Janiemanie1993]

My dad is one of those 'observers'. It is absolutely NUTS what he witnesses.

[MsReasonAddict]

Those rednecked, bigoted, stupid Americans are people I see every day. Some are members of my family. They do exist and unfortunately, they are becoming more vocal and scarier.

[TacticusPrime]

@owenhunt You can't blame the president for (1) things he can't control like Goldman Sachs bonuses/profits or (2) things that didn't even happen during his Presidency like swine flu or American jobs going overseas. American jobs have been going overseas since at least the 70s and it accelerated during the 80s and 90s. There's little and nothing he could do about it. Certainly nothing that would get past the Republicans.

[owenhunt]

@TacticusPrime I really don't understand your points about swine flu or any of the last paragraph. Can you elucidate?

[TacticusPrime]

@owenhunt Really? So swine flu is on him too? You can't blame the most activist President since Reagan for passivity. Also, jobs have been leaving America since the 70s, and it accelerated in the 90s.

Goldman-Sachs has definitely made off like gangbusters from the Recession. They've also paid us back though, so we don't have much say in it. Republicans fought Dodd-Frank tooth and nail, imagine how they would fight a REAL Wall Street reform bill.

[owenhunt]

@TacticusPrime You could argue the overseas shipping of jobs was Obama's fault through passivity of inaction. On a worse note, the wealth of Goldman-Sachs is greater post-recession than it was previously. It is without the likes of Goldman Sachs that the Western economy would never have been in jeopardy, and I say this as the son of a Private Banker.

[TacticusPrime]

@owenhunt Goldman Sachs was bailed out under Bush, but beyond that it was necessary to keep the financial system from going under. You think the recession was bad? It would have been 10 times worse if businesses around the nation couldn't borrow to pay their employees or buy equipment to pursue their activities. I hate CEOs as much as anyone, but you've got to look at the big picture.

It certainly not Obama's fault that corporations are sending jobs overseas, that's since the 80s.

[owenhunt]

@TacticusPrime Saving the financial industry was a poisonous act that has siphoned further low-wealth income into Goldman Sachs executive pockets. It's also important to note his jettisoning of jobs across the atlantic from a needy American public.

[KCkoolaidking]

wow thats crazy.... I'm from kansas... and although i don't live on a farm, I do live near many...... I almost felt for a split second he was talking to me.

[SiliconBong]

I wish I could shake the hand of Stephen Fry :(