Conversations with History: Michael Hardt

[lyleredman]

I find Multitude to be a much more positive and complete vision. Its a Revelation to me. I cant get enough. My new political heroes.

[defensafinancial]

this man is genius, Empire is a post-modern masterpiece. I like his honesty and humbleness about his early intellectual curiosity. I can relate to intellectual growth as a college student. Foucault and Marx were primarily my major influences.

[ozzylaza]

People can hate on me because of this, but did anyone else get it really hard to engage with things he was saying? He was very short in the beginning with his answers. Its almost like its very hard for him to express himself, which of course is weird to me being that he is a prof of literature. I got to this video because I was on the Robert Fisk video 

[emotionalinvalid]

@ozzylaza agree. maybe he was constipated or something. Robert Fisk is one of the greatest. Hope you went back to the Fisk video.

[matchbox555]

this guy is saying absolutely nothing

he never actually makes a point about anything

hes pretentious and trying hard to be esoteric

[Distortion0]

@matchbox555 Youtube is a bad place to get philosophy. It's a lot more efficient just to read the books.

[boeatsbrains]

@matchbox555

notice it's a conversation...merely a conversation.

[matchbox555]

@boeatsbrains and you are a retard... merely a retard

[boeatsbrains]

@matchbox555

Just an anaphoric expressionist, lasciviously suck my delicious nuts.



[matchbox555]

@boeatsbrains this video should be taken down its pure bullshit

[boeatsbrains]

@matchbox555

He's got some intriguing things to say, but mostly in other videos; this is a good example of pretentiousness among intellectuals.

[hamiltonjsh]

sorry but can we drop the intro music, PLZ!!!!

[singlese]

@hamiltonjsh i know, it's shocking.

[1888junkteam]

excellent worker!

[DermochelysCoriacea]

This is the first interviewee on Conversations with History who gives answers similar to the way I would; for example, if I were asked about the influence my parents had on me, I wouldn't know. Many intellectuals seem good with autobiography, though. This is unique.

[tomsega]

Whoever wrote the music deserves a grammy

[bapyou]

You're being sarcastic, I'm guessing.

[tomsega]

So irony isn't lost on every American

[bapyou]

It is dreadful (the music).

[nacho862]

@tomsega just because you are from america doesn't mean you're stupid (which you have brilliantly realized), and being from another country doesn't make you intelligent (which is implied in your comment). it must be nice to feel that false security though.

[tomsega]

@nacho862 - I don't think American's are stupid, I never really inferred that. What I would say is that British people have a stronger, culturally ingrained sense of irony, which might be down to bad weather and historic class divisions, but is nevertheless apparent.

[newearthclaypottery]

Mr. Kreisler,

Great inteviews overall.

May I suggest that you use fewer leading questions that sound almost like multiple choice.

At least start out that way; then if you find response lacking , lead on.

I would like to hear more from philosophers.

Thanks for the series.

Bill

[Giovannisenzaterra]

mmmhh , I suspect "Iperium" has been written by Antonio Negri more than by him

[Chemoliano]

This is soooooo booooring!

[bapyou]

Thoughtless imbecile.

[bapyou]

To anyone giving my "Thoughtless imbecile" comment a thumbs down: read the original post by Chemoliano. The "thoughtless imbecile" I was talking about is NOT Michael Hardt. The Thoughtless imbecile is Chemoliano. Chemoliano called Hardt "boooooring." Read his post.

[fastronaut]

"Time to stop listening to intellectuals who fool us. Time to put our faith into a powerful leader who we can depend on." Yeah. Like Hitler.

[Zatzzo]

Who said that?

[thisisrealyo]

Mao works too.

[automaticflow]

To further clarify, Liberalism doesn't equate to "the left." Liberalism is only a part (to be specific, the farthest "right" part) of a larger banner of "the left." Hardt could more accurately be identified as a radical rather than a liberal. Liberalism assumes the centrality of the State, the point of Empire is to deny that centrality.

[Distortion0]

@automaticflow In America, at least, both parties are technically "liberal". Democrats represent Social Liberalism while Republicans represent Neoliberalism.

[smileyfacemug]

@Distortion0 That's not true

[Distortion0]

@smileyfacemug Ummm...argument please? In what way does either party substantially differ from the tennants of John Lock? Aka, the founder of liberalism.

[smileyfacemug]

@Distortion0 Well the Democrats represent neoliberalism too, at least in part. I mean Clinton was pretty keen on it. I'm not sure that they're that interested in social liberalism; they usually only support things like that when they become popular (civil rights, gay rights etc).

[Distortion0]

@smileyfacemug Yeah, you definitely have a good point.

[automaticflow]

It's funny how the main criticism most of you have made is that hardt is "confused, detached, and an elitist," despit the fact that Empire was an international bestseller. We're talking about a book that had literally no press because of its detachment from mainstream liberal thought (Hardt is liberal in no sense, if any of you had actually read Empire, it is a book that criticizes liberal governanace). The only way a book like this becomes a bestseller is WORD OF MOUTH, THIS MATTERS TO PEOPLE!

[brokennarcissist]

Hardt says it best when calling Empire unoriginal because the world is ready to make sense of his/Negri's work. The youtube community on the other hand, not quite there yet, to say the least.

[siwi1982]

It is indeed an attempt to save Marxist theory, from postmodern theory. However considering that this movie has 5,500 of which at least 3 of them are morons (see below). A britney spears gets 48 million hits. The masses that unite through networks like the internet remain just as fudgable as they were when they are infront of their sit-coms. I love his thoughts but I'm afraid Baudrillard is getting right by the day.

[Overby28]

@brokennarcissist

Give me a break!

[xeneinse86]

i love his thoughts

[deadlyvengeance222]

Looks like another limp-wristed Al Qaeda apologist to me. Let's nuke academia.

[somor98]

What a fuckin' retard!

[pilkingtonphil]

Why can't this man succesfully finish a point or keep to a question topic?

[tank666999]

Agreed. He comes off as confussed. Then again, you have to understand that sometimes within the intellectual mind, many strings of thought will connect and he might just be trying to explain the connections while trying to answer the question. Only word on that for the moment: FAIL.

[pilkingtonphil]

Yeah, but I don't really think he is. To be honest, and I've seen another interview with him where he comes across in the same way, he seems to be more interested in talking about his own political activity and the way he relates to it rather than talking about world socio-economic systems. Seems to me to be a bit of a self-obsessed charlatan really...

[bapyou]

Confussed? What's "confussed?"

[deadlyvengeance222]

Because he is simply lying. But he's a Marxist-- so does that really surprise you?

His parents most likely paid his way through college so he could relax and read philosophy. Typical leftist.

Funny that most people that think critically are actually frauds. Which is why they make fun of us for watching sitcoms because they think they're so high and mighty.

Time to stop listening to intellectuals who fool us. Time to put our faith into a powerful leader who we can depend on.

[pilkingtonphil]

Eh, well, let's not go mental or anything, not all leftists and Marxists are liars and poseurs. Check out the interview with David Harvey by the same guy, he gives a great, in depth geographical perspective on globalisation. Its the postmodern "neo-Marxists" who usually turn out to be hucksters. As for having faith in powerful, "trustworthy" leaders, I'll personally leave the marches on Rome and the beer hall putsches to others. The only thing worse than a leader you can't trust is one you can!

[0neironaut]

bahaha wow, youre just seething with resentment.  It isnt Hardt's fault that you hate your life.

[bapyou]

"His parents most likely paid his way through college so he could relax and read philosophy"

You mean his parents paid his way just like George Bush's parents did?

[DukeUniversity08]

I'm pretty sure that's exactly what the comment meant.

[bapyou]

Huh? Which comment? Who? When? Where?

[DukeUniversity08]

The comment about his education - I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it meant. Just like George Bush's parents, Hardt's parents "most likely paid his way through college." I can't believe I have to explain this.

[bapyou]

Yeah, but the point the poster was trying to make with his comment was that persons whose parents pay their way through college is somehow "typically leftist." If you take into account that right-wing whackos like George Bush had his Yale tuition paid by HIS parents, it invalidates the poster's original intention. Got it? I brought up GWB not the poster.

Plus, I'll bet the poster knows nothing about the details of Hardt's personal life. So he just made stuff up to suit his paticular adgenda.

[DukeUniversity08]

Got it. I didn't get to read the whole original post, just the excerpt, due to the low ratings it received.

[RichardCorral]

great interview, the second book Multitude is also a must read, hopeful, realistic, great stuff.