Charlie Rose

Filipe Brás Almeida  10/12/2008 01:48 PM Report

Mr. Lévy is a certified loon. A quarter-hour of banalities and generic statements intertwined with nonsense and arm waving. In the end this is how this man makes his living. An embarrassment to his profession. France hasn't produced a decent philosopher since the philosophes.

Kenny B  10/09/2008 12:57 AM Report

I dig what he has to say. Don't be afraid because he isn't American.

Edgar  09/30/2008 08:21 AM Report

I have been reading the book after I saw him on the show and I must say I have a lot of problems with his arguments. I am sure many people feel good reading his criticism of the left, but I am not sure he makes sense much of the time and his gradiose suggestions hold. I wish Charlie would have pushed him. BHL asserts a lot (and many of his ideas are not his own and have been around in Europe for some time) but does not backs up what he says. Can't see why Sarkozy was gaga over him.

B.K.Lee  09/27/2008 07:52 PM Report

one hundred percent SPOT ON!!!!! I have since purchased his new book Left in Dark Times, I Love IT!!! It is nice to see a Frenchmen GET IT! how funny, when BHL was singing Leftist praise he was a Great MAN?? but now he can see the flaw in the leftist ideology and Leftists call him IDIOT, just read the criticism written here.

BHL is proof that a THINKER from the left can realize that we have more ideals agreed upon then disagree with and the core values of FREEDOM are most important... you will love his book unless you are so thouroughly Brainwashed you can no longer think for yourself...

yes there is still hope... thank you B.H.L. u are proof all is not lost in a leftist mind.

NP  09/27/2008 12:57 PM Report

Now I see why people find the French annoying.

david s  09/26/2008 08:36 PM Report

I just loved the arm waving and the bluster. An episode worthy of Comedy Central. Little insight but good comedy relief.

Fouad  09/26/2008 08:34 PM Report

ET

I don't know which campuses you have been on but there is plenty of criticism of Islam on virtually every campus and in every major media outlet. Even in his native France there routine and systematic criticism of Islam. But that aside Levy came across as shallow and self-absorbed. In France he is a farse, he has to come here to be taken seriously.

Patrice Weber  09/26/2008 01:57 AM Report

Hi

James (see above comment) could not be more right.

BHL is a fraud (at least in Europe, N.B. Charlie Rose)

I am Frenchman and in Europe there is an old tradition that consists in throwing a creme pie at the face of a "celebrity" to protest against the target's political beliefs, or against a perceived flaw

BHL so far holds the record in Europe. He's been pied seven time.....

To see the videos please follow the link

http://www.gloupgloup.be/bhl.htm

(BTW thanks to our Belgian friends...)

Sincerely, Patrice Weber

ET  09/25/2008 02:13 AM Report

I'm entirely impressed with this interview, and emailed the link to my friends. Despite the snide comments, the fact is that on the campuses of America it's not acceptable to criticize either Communist China's oppressions, or sharia law, as this might "embarrass" the students and professors from the relevant countries. This is "multiculturalism" run amok. These are _not_ "made up issues!" The "rise of a new totalitarianism" is exactly what I've observed. BHL's analysis is a light to show the way out of this craziness. I don't recognize anything I heard in this interview in the negative comments I read here. As for not being a "real" French intellectual--well, by the standards for that expressed here, neither is Camus. I'm tired of hearing people of good will ignorantly quote Che Guevarra and Fidel Castro as experts on peace and justice. I'm tired of apologists for the Communist government of China argue the "convergence theory," as the West used to argue for Stalin. We're fortunate for BNL's voice, and for the fact that we don't have to find him in a campus office to hear what he knows. The "rise of the new totalitarianism"--yes. Ideas matter, and if you have doubts about that, ask a woman whose income doesn't depend on staying silent about sharia law, a gay person in the same situation, a person who is a member of a persecuted religion, a journalist, or a lawyer for human rights. They will agree with BHL's analysis of the "rise of the new totalitarianism." Thank you for a great interview.

spoite  09/24/2008 06:20 PM Report

I have posted on BHL before. As Eric Mouzin said, don't believe for a second that Levy is representative of the intellectual field in France. He has zero credibility among serious thinkers and scholars in his own country, and everywhere else. He is what the French call a "media/TV intellectual." He constantly appears on TV; he holds a powerful place in the publishing business--but precisely it's all about business. He's never written even a minor work of philosophy, and yet he keeps being called a "philosopher." So, to James, he's not "the poster child for how far French intellectuals have fallen." He is simply not one of them. And believe me (I am a professor of French intellectual history, if you care to know), the real French intellectuals are doing fine, but in the restricted confines of their study. One needs to buy their books to find out, not turn the TV on.

Now, why does Charlie keep inviting this guy? As he said they are friends. Charlie has tapped into a network of European middle-of-the-road public jounalists/intellectuals, and he keeps inviting them for sheer comfort, habit, and safety, since he's assured that most of them will spew out middle-brow and banale opinions--what the great French sociologist Bourdieu called the middling concoction of half-wits. Exactly what BHL is. Not an idiot, nor an intellectual, but certainly someone who can sell himself and his mediocre stuff. Perfect for TV. If we thought that the Charlie Rose show was different than regular TV, it was a mistake. TV remains TV with its constraints (even in long (for TV) uninterrupted interviews) and imposed superficialities. It can make for "good conversation" and that's fine. I watch TV too, evidently. But, please, don't introduce this, and BHL, for what it is not.

David  09/24/2008 04:18 PM Report

Great show, one of the best I've seen(and I've seen quite a few). I will go and watch other interviews with this guy now.

Eric Mouzin  09/24/2008 02:57 PM Report

I love Charlie Rose's show and I am a regular viewer of the broadcast on the web. There have been so many outstanding moments on this show and so many great personalities. What a terrible disappointment to watch BH Levy again and again, talking nonsense; he is a complete buffoon in France, media crazy but certainly not a serious philosopher... Is he the only person in France that Charlie Rose dares to invite? Is this based on friendship or what? I don't understand, please tell me where his grandiloquent logos is "informed, spirited, soulful"???

James  09/24/2008 02:38 PM Report

Entertaining but his self-serving bombast was not convincing. He seems to be making up issues that he then heroically challenges. I don't about France but here in America there has been overwhelming criticism of Islam (in fact sometimes going overboard). There is none of the double-standard he talks of, shyness to criticize Islam. I don't know what he was talking about and I am shocked Charlie did not call him on these kinds of slips. I also read his book on Daniel Pearl's murder and I thought it was a complete waste of time. No substance and all hot air without any idea fact or idea to latch on to. I think Levy is the poster child for how far French intellectuals have fallen.

Douglass Montrose-Graem  09/24/2008 02:03 AM Report

His bluff in the poke-game of French politics was called and he lost. Is it not fascinating to watch his efforts to stay in the game? Put another way - is watching a swimmer stroking upstream a wee bit sad? Perchance is it true that being on the left during the war on terror is as untenable as being a Conservative appeaser in 1938?