What a pompous buffoon! In my view, he embodies the intellectual and moral decay of that elite-West which admires him as a leading philosopher and French intellectual in spite of the fact that he is unable to see a complex problem without making it into a black-and-white, good-and-evil thing and the West/US/NATO/France of curse always on the Good side.
No matter where he goes. And he goes a lot. Also to be photographed. Like an explorer of unchartered territories in the good old colonial times.
I am talking about Bernard Henry-Lévy – BHL.
It’s comforting to see that The Times of Israel does distance itself from him towards the end – but of course, he anyhow gets front-page coverage because of his blind Zionist advocacy.
In my view, this appearance-obsessed dandy’s war-cheering and human rights engagement has never been anything but a tool of his own narcissistic personality. No, I do not know him personally and never read any of his books – but I have seen his shorter articles, interview and video conversation over quite a few years, first concerning Yugoslavia.
The Times of Israel writes that his documentary from Ukraine is a “montage that features Lévy in almost every frame, striding confidently alongside Ukrainian fighters through bombed-out streets while dressed in an impeccable suit” and paying only scant attention to Ukrainians…
Listen to his BHL BS trying to explain that: Lévy said in a post-screening interview with The Times of Israel that the documentary featured a lot of footage of himself because he felt that was the most accurate portrayal of the situation.
“I think this is the best way to be honest, not to pretend,” said Lévy. “I don’t pretend to be an objective or exhaustive person. I just say what I saw, what I think, and what I conclude. For me, subjectivity is a precondition of fairness and honesty.”
So, the more subjective, without taking into account other perspectives but your own, the more honest and fair. I think I learned otherwise when I started out in social science 52 years ago.
BHL also says that he believed – until Ukraine, that is – “that liberalism and democracy will prevail all over the world that all the nations will become wise.” Western mission civilisatrice – what a philosophy!
And in spite of having endorsed wars – even instigated the one on Libya by calling his corrupt friend Zarkosy – he has the guts to call himself a pacifist! “Speaking after the screening in Tel Aviv, Lévy referred to himself as a pacifist, but a large portion of the documentary footage is Lévy visiting bunkers on the front lines and handling large weapons with an approving gaze.”
It’s a short and incredibly telling article about the ever more intensive Western intellectual and moral decline.
And about the philosopher of fake.
Notes
• Below BHL’s photo gallery of himself in various warzones on his homepage.
• Having worked in quite a few war zones myself, there is one thing I know: You never use he local environment of death and destruction as a stage to highlight yourself.
“If we want peace, we have to accept the Cold War”
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Interesting personality, seen from a psychological and pathological perspective. An example of a blind believer of the idea that intellect works independantly of empathy & emotions – paradoxically he is like a volcano, which hides inside a melting pool of emotions under pressure, without any connection to his intellect. So he erupts in the same way, basically uncontrollable for himself or others, all the time – and with the same devastating effect as a pyroclastic cloud. A typical character in our times, unfortunately – like if a kind of evil spirit of time is creating or appealing to those kind of people.