Five Quotes from Anderson Cooper’s Skeggs Lecture

Anderson Cooper at the Skeggs lecture. Photo by Gabby Fellows/ The Jambar.

By Gabby Fellows

Miss Anderson Cooper at Stambaugh? For those who couldn’t be in attendance for the Skeggs Lecture, The Jambar compiled some of his more memorable thoughts of the night.

 

Anderson Cooper at the Skeggs lecture. Photo by Gabby Fellows/ The Jambar.
Anderson Cooper at the Skeggs lecture. Photo by Gabby Fellows/ The Jambar.
  • “My job is to try and be tough and ask tough questions to both parties and let the voters make up their minds. I don’t think voters or anybody out there deserves to listen to some overpaid, blow-dried TV anchor telling them who to vote for or how to think … My job is to not be the story in the debate. It’s not about me; it’s about them [the candidates].”

 

  • “I don’t find celebrities all that interesting. The people that I remember when I close my eyes at night … are people who have found themselves in circumstances beyond their making … who are trying to live a decent life and will never make a headline. Those are the people who deserve to be on the cover of TIME magazine.”

 

  • “I don’t believe in scrubbing [emotions] off. I think it’s important to be a human being first and be moved by what you see. … Being a human being makes you a better reporter. Some things are incredibly moving. I’m the least emotional person. I push all my emotions aside, but there are some times when things are so overwhelming that you must feel them.”

 

  • “What’s interesting is your generation has access to more information than any other generation in the world. There’s almost too much information. I think it’s more important to remember where your information is coming from, where your source is getting their information. Not all information is equal and not all sources are the same. There’s this tendency now to read a blog and give it the same weight as an organization that vets their stories or information … the idea about caring about the source of your information is important. If you give all this knowledge equal validity, that’s when you have to question what is true and what is not true.”

 

  • “Make yourself indispensable in whatever job you’re at at the time. Do whatever will get you in the door, and make yourself indispensable.”