olivier in france Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I'd like to know if some of you have readen "American Vertigo" by french philosopher Bernard Henry Levy and what you thought about the book. (and please no blabla about how you hate a french guy writing a book about the USA...). I've not readen it yet but i've just bought it. Levy is someone i have tremendous respect for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helmet_hair Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Marvs got a brother? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivier in france Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 Marvs got a brother? 682259[/snapback] Lol! with the age of BHL i think he could be Marv's son ... that'd be one amazing pair!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of BiB Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 No, but I'll place it on my list. Thanks for the tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivier in france Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 No, but I'll place it on my list. Thanks for the tip. 682306[/snapback] Great i'd like to have your (always interesting) opinion! have you ever readen some BHL books? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of BiB Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Great i'd like to have your (always interesting) opinion! have you ever readen some BHL books? 682499[/snapback] No, I haven't as yet. A friend of mine over in your "sorry assed surrender frog how dare they write about the US" country recommended him, though. This makes a second recommendation. I understand he leans towards current Neo-Euro, with a little Descartes tossed in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivier in france Posted May 4, 2006 Author Share Posted May 4, 2006 No, I haven't as yet. A friend of mine over in your "sorry assed surrender frog how dare they write about the US" country recommended him, though. This makes a second recommendation. I understand he leans towards current Neo-Euro, with a little Descartes tossed in. 682510[/snapback] Neo Euro? what is that? BHL was the first "thinker" to reject the post 1968 leftist intellectual monopoly we had in France in the 70ies (he and his friends were called the "new philosophs"), he's deeply anti-marxist. He has tried to mobilise the media and the public opinion each time democracy and human rights have been under siege in the world for about 30 years even if the political or ideological powers in France were involved or did not want to see what was going on... As far as i've heard about his new book he's trying to make a realistic portrait of today's America, trying to tackle the usual clichés french have in mind. I've seen him in different tv shows and like a few of us he's really upset with the crazy anti-americanism that is raging around here and if his book does not look pro-american, it looks as objective as possible, and that's a lot yet in the sea of stupidities we hear here about the USA everyday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of BiB Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 I perhaps should have said post-modernism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivier in france Posted May 4, 2006 Author Share Posted May 4, 2006 I perhaps should have said post-modernism. 683269[/snapback] i don't really know what you mean by that... post modern is a term used in art around here but i don't know what that means in politics ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin in Va Beach Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 i don't really know what you mean by that... post modern is a term used in art around here but i don't know what that means in politics ... 683271[/snapback] Eggheads will debate that there are many ways to view post-modernism as it relates to politics, but the jist of it is there is no known universal truth and everything is shades of grey. It's like a cross of deconstructionism and nihilism. It's intellectual laziness and a bunch of mental masturbation if you ask me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivier in france Posted May 4, 2006 Author Share Posted May 4, 2006 Eggheads will debate that there are many ways to view post-modernism as it relates to politics, but the jist of it is there is no known universal truth and everything is shades of grey. It's like a cross of deconstructionism and nihilism. It's intellectual laziness and a bunch of mental masturbation if you ask me... 683284[/snapback] Frankly Gavin for me intellectual laziness is found more often in people seeing the world as black and white than in people seeing it in shades of grey... it's so easy to see yourself as the white knight surrounded by evil forces... It's that kind of manicheism that i hate to see so often in both the US and french international policies... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin in Va Beach Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Frankly Gavin for me intellectual laziness is found more often in people seeing the world as black and white than in people seeing it in shades of grey... it's so easy to see yourself as the white knight surrounded by evil forces... It's that kind of manicheism that i hate to see so often in both the US and french international policies... 683286[/snapback] If you never have a foundation, you can never build. You cannot establish a foundation with shades of grey. Post-modernism is nothing but a vehicle for pseudo-intellectuals to rationalize anything they want, usually for personal reasons vs. logical ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivier in france Posted May 4, 2006 Author Share Posted May 4, 2006 If you never have a foundation, you can never build. You cannot establish a foundation with shades of grey. Post-modernism is nothing but a vehicle for pseudo-intellectuals to rationalize anything they want, usually for personal reasons vs. logical ones. 683291[/snapback] Well you do not need an huge "foundation" Gavin. The Human rights as defined by the US Constitution and the "Déclaration Universelle des Droits de l'Homme" is a big enough "foundation" in terms of principles and morals. ... Personally this is the only "foundation" i respect and even with only this one it's sometimes difficult to know what are the shades of gray that are acceptable and the ones that are not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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