Sixties Cultural Revolution

Hosted byGeorge Noory

Sixties Cultural Revolution

About the show

Author and researcher Howard Bloom (photos) joined George Noory to discuss his book, How I Accidentally Started the Sixties, which chronicles Bloom's memorable experiences with personalities of the era, and his integral involvement in many of the cultural changes that happened during that period. Bloom revealed the book was written during a period of his life when he suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome and was bedridden for 15 years. "For five of those years I was too weak to talk and too weak to have another person in the room with me... it was sheer hell," he said, noting it destroyed his 34-year marriage.

Bloom explained he was on a spiritual journey in the early 1960s, traveling (barefoot) to San Francisco to find his heroes, the beatniks, in the City Lights Bookstore. When they were nowhere to be found, Bloom embarked on a series of adventures involving drug experimentation and questing for Zen Buddhist satori, and eventually a group of like-minded individuals sprung up around him. According to Bloom, TIME Magazine dubbed his group the hippie movement. "I accidentally helped start a movement—it was a total accident," he confessed.

"I think there is a spiritual dimension to the Sixties that the other decades simply didn't have," Bloom continued. He spoke about his creation of a field of study called Omnology, which teaches people to give themselves permission to be promiscuously curious. Bloom encouraged listeners to experience the extremes of human emotion, begin adventures now without delay, and follow their curiosities. "They are a gift not just to you but to the human race," he said.

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At the beginning of the third hour, George had an exclusive interview with the former casino host for Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock. Identified only as John, he described his job as a handler for high rollers. "We basically make anything within reason... happen for them that will entice them to keep coming in," he said. John described Paddock as astute, intelligent, quiet, and antisocial, and revealed he played 700 to 1000 hands of electronic poker per hour with high-denomination bets.

According to John, he provided VIP services for Paddock for a few years and never saw anything that would lead him to believe he could commit such an atrocity, though he noted how horribly he treated people. "He [treated] me like I'm worthless... these people to him were, they weren't even worth throw away cards to him," he said. Shooting these people may have provided a rush he couldn't find in gambling, John suggested.

The final 90 minutes of the program featured Open Lines.

News segment guests: Jerome Corsi / Dr. John Curtis / Peter Davenport

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