--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There are a great many people who have a…" description: "\"There are a great many people who have a vested interest in maintaining the stupidity of the American public.\" — Gore Vidal" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/gore-vidal-466_american-public_there-are-a-great-many-people-who-have-a_775142.jpg" --- # There are a great many people who have a vested interest… ![“There are a great many people who have a vested interest in maintaining the stupidity of the American public.” quote by Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/gore-vidal-466_american-public_there-are-a-great-many-people-who-have-a_775142.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/gore-vidal-466_american-public_there-are-a-great-many-people-who-have-a_775142.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/gore-vidal-466_american-public_there-are-a-great-many-people-who-have-a_775142.jpg) > “There are a great many people who have a vested interest in maintaining the stupidity of the American public.” [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Powerful interests keep the public uninformed for control. **In simple terms:** Elite groups maintain public ignorance for power. Key Takeaway Seek truth, resist manipulation. Themes politics manipulation education media literacy Mood analytical skeptical Type political educational When to use this quote - voting - media consumption - public debate Key Concepts critical thinking civic engagement information access Questions to Reflect On - Why do elites hide information? - How can citizens stay informed? A Different Perspective Changing public opinion is slow. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [American public](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-public/) [Great man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-man/) [Great men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-men/) [Interest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interest/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Stupidity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stupidity/) [Vested interest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vested-interest/) [Vested interests](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vested-interests/) ## Related quotes > [People have a vested interest in promoting one set of polices rather than finding out what the truth is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/people-have-a-vested-interest-in-promoting-one-set-of-polices-rather/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [History seems not so much a record of past events, more a catalogue of preferred beliefs expounded by people who have a vested interest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-storr/history-seems-not-so-much-a-record-of-past-events-more-a-catalogue-of/) [Anthony Storr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-storr/) > [My job, as I've said, is to break down sectionalism, vested interests and a fixed mindset of merely following precedents, so that I'm not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yoshihide-suga/my-job-as-i-ve-said-is-to-break-down-sectionalism-vested-interests/) [Yoshihide Suga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yoshihide-suga/) > [When I worked with various healers of one kind or another, very often what came up was that there was an "inner" person who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-alan-wolf/when-i-worked-with-various-healers-of-one-kind-or-another-very-often/) [Fred Alan Wolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-alan-wolf/) > [The Japanese army is now prepared to use every means within its power to subdue its opponents. The objectives of the Japanese Expeditionary Forces…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iwane-matsui/the-japanese-army-is-now-prepared-to-use-every-means-within-its-power/) [Iwane Matsui](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iwane-matsui/) > [The state is captive to vested interests.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sanusi-lamido-sanusi/the-state-is-captive-to-vested-interests/) Sanusi Lamido Sanusi > [Cutting the fiscal deficit is not popular. That is the experience of all governments in all countries. Expenditure cuts hurt certain vested interests, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manmohan-singh/cutting-the-fiscal-deficit-is-not-popular-that-is-the-experience-of/) [Manmohan Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manmohan-singh/) > [We've all got to look at ourselves, start with yourself, that's all you can do. I believe that we can act responsibly as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-elton/we-ve-all-got-to-look-at-ourselves-start-with-yourself-that-s-all-you/) [Ben Elton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-elton/) > [Almost all scholarly research carries practical and political implications. Better that we should spell these out ourselves than leave that task to people with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-coontz/almost-all-scholarly-research-carries-practical-and-political/) [Stephanie Coontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-coontz/) > [The investment business has taught me – increasingly as the years have passed – that people, especially investors (and, I believe, Americans), prefer good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-grantham/the-investment-business-has-taught-me-increasingly-as-the-years-have/) [Jeremy Grantham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-grantham/) > [There is such a thing as truth, but we have a vested interest in not seeing it, in avoiding it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/errol-morris/there-is-such-a-thing-as-truth-but-we-have-a-vested-interest-in-not/) [Errol Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/errol-morris/) > [The power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maynard-keynes/the-power-of-vested-interests-is-vastly-exaggerated-compared-with-the/) [John Maynard Keynes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maynard-keynes/) > [The fact is that many countries that call themselves free succumbed to medical dictatorship...people are sicker and less healthy...A country which mandates vaccination is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viera-scheibner/the-fact-is-that-many-countries-that-call-themselves-free-succumbed/) [Viera Scheibner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viera-scheibner/) > [Opinions have vested interests just as men have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-butler/opinions-have-vested-interests-just-as-men-have/) [Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) > [“steam-tactics saga illustrates that (4) Rationalism, unlike empiricism, tends to assume an accretion of vested interests.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-andrew-hugh-gordon/steam-tactics-saga-illustrates-that-4-rationalism-unlike-empiricism/) [Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-andrew-hugh-gordon/) ## More by Gore Vidal > [There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party...and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/there-is-only-one-party-in-the-united-states-the-property-party-and/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Many people in the United States happen to believe that United States policy is wrong in Vietnam and the Vietcong are correct in wanting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/many-people-in-the-united-states-happen-to-believe-that-united-states/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [“It is curious how little interested we are in the sexual desires of those who do not attract us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/it-is-curious-how-little-interested-we-are-in-the-sexual-desires-of/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [This separation was absolute in our original Republic. But the sky-godders do not give up easily. In the 1950s they actually got the phrase…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/this-separation-was-absolute-in-our-original-republic-but-the-sky/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/style-is-knowing-who-you-are-what-you-want-to-say-and-not-giving-a/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [The oligarchs think that the people are both dangerous and stupid. Their point is moot. But we do know that the oligarchs are a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-oligarchs-think-that-the-people-are-both-dangerous-and-stupid/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [It is curious how often one prefers his enemies to his friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/it-is-curious-how-often-one-prefers-his-enemies-to-his-friends/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/as-societies-grow-decadent-the-language-grows-decadent-too-words-are/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Rome ... at its most decadent, had never thought of hiring an actor to go through the motions of being an emperor while the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/rome-at-its-most-decadent-had-never-thought-of-hiring-an-actor-to-go/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [History is nothing but gossip about the past, with the hope that it might be true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/history-is-nothing-but-gossip-about-the-past-with-the-hope-that-it/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [The malady of civilized man is his knowledge of death. The good artist, like the wise man, addresses himself to life and invests with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-malady-of-civilized-man-is-his-knowledge-of-death-the-good-artist/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Sex is a continuum. You go through different phases along life's way... and if you don't, you've been sort of cheated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/sex-is-a-continuum-you-go-through-different-phases-along-life-s-way/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [All I want is that Americans still be able to read the alphabet in a hundred years. I am not very ambitious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/all-i-want-is-that-americans-still-be-able-to-read-the-alphabet-in-a/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [I do not admire 'the people,' as such. No one really does. Their folk wisdom is usually false, their instincts predatory. Even their sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-do-not-admire-the-people-as-such-no-one-really-does-their-folk/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [“One of the problems of a society as tightly controlled as ours is that we get so little information about what those of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/one-of-the-problems-of-a-society-as-tightly-controlled-as-ours-is/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) [Explore all 539 Gore Vidal quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) ## More American public quotes > [It used to be that whenever I introduced myself to people and told them I was a psychologist, they would shrink away from me.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-seligman/it-used-to-be-that-whenever-i-introduced-myself-to-people-and-told/) [Martin Seligman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-seligman/) > [Let's focus on how we can take someone who is being poorly educated in an American public school and how they are poorly trained…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-steele/let-s-focus-on-how-we-can-take-someone-who-is-being-poorly-educated/) [Michael Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-steele/) > [Americans need to educate themselves, from elementary school onward, about what their country has done abroad. And they need to play a more active…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/americans-need-to-educate-themselves-from-elementary-school-onward/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [Presidents going live from the Oval Office have used that platform to inform the American public, and also to do one of the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-buttigieg/presidents-going-live-from-the-oval-office-have-used-that-platform-to/) [Pete Buttigieg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-buttigieg/) > [Because of a mass media more interested in gossip and sensationalism than real issues, I would say a vast majority of the American public…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-sanders/because-of-a-mass-media-more-interested-in-gossip-and-sensationalism/) [Bernie Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-sanders/) > [You know for many elected officials they all started in the same place. You know marriage is between a man and a woman, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-mcgreevey/you-know-for-many-elected-officials-they-all-started-in-the-same/) [James McGreevey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-mcgreevey/) > [The American Public is who I'm interested in. Ultimately, if they think I'm good and they think I'm entertaining that's all that matters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-angel/the-american-public-is-who-i-m-interested-in-ultimately-if-they-think/) [Criss Angel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-angel/) > [58% of the American public are with us. We're preaching to the choir, but the choir's not singing, if all of the 58% started…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-sheehan/58-of-the-american-public-are-with-us-we-re-preaching-to-the-choir/) [Cindy Sheehan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cindy-sheehan/) > [Today enormous effort goes into convincing the American public that we're just consumers of media manipulation and sound-bites and spin doctors. That we care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernardine-dohrn/today-enormous-effort-goes-into-convincing-the-american-public-that/) [Bernardine Dohrn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernardine-dohrn/) > [We of the soft-crooning radio type of singer are giving the people what they want. The American public as a whole does not care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudy-vallee/we-of-the-soft-crooning-radio-type-of-singer-are-giving-the-people/) [Rudy Vallee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudy-vallee/) > [I wanted the American public to know that not everyone in Iraq and Afghanistan were targets that needed to be neutralized, but rather people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chelsea-manning/i-wanted-the-american-public-to-know-that-not-everyone-in-iraq-and/) [Chelsea Manning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chelsea-manning/) > [There’s nothing more embarrassing than a person who tries to guess what the great American public would like, makes a compromise for the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/there-s-nothing-more-embarrassing-than-a-person-who-tries-to-guess/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [The American public's a lot more sophisticated than we all give them credit for. And on complicated issues, I'm going to give them straight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-biden/the-american-public-s-a-lot-more-sophisticated-than-we-all-give-them/) [Joe Biden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-biden/) > [The attitude of the American public toward the external projection of American power has been much more ambivalent. The public supported America's engagement in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zbigniew-brzezinski/the-attitude-of-the-american-public-toward-the-external-projection-of/) [Zbigniew Brzezinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zbigniew-brzezinski/) > [I think the American public can accept the fact if you tell them that every time you pick up the phone it's going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-kelly/i-think-the-american-public-can-accept-the-fact-if-you-tell-them-that/) [Raymond Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-kelly/) [Browse all 121 American public quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-public/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There are a great many people who have a vested interest in maintaining the stupidity of the American public.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gore Vidal" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/there-are-a-great-many-people-who-have-a-vested-interest-in/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "American public" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/there-are-a-great-many-people-who-have-a-vested-interest-in/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/gore-vidal-466_american-public_there-are-a-great-many-people-who-have-a_775142.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/gore-vidal-466_american-public_there-are-a-great-many-people-who-have-a_775142.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/gore-vidal-466_american-public_there-are-a-great-many-people-who-have-a_775142.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There are a great many people who have a vested interest in maintaining the stupidity of the American public.” — Gore Vidal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Gore Vidal", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There are a great many people...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/there-are-a-great-many-people-who-have-a-vested-interest-in/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/there-are-a-great-many-people-who-have-a-vested-interest-in/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```