Rick Roderick Interview [1987] (complete)

[@meanwhilemania]

The interviewer is Anne Buttimer. She looks Japanese here, but she is Irish. Anne passed away a few days ago, 15 July 2017. She was a beautiful woman, which is evident in the video. Very beautiful. The relentless progression of time and aging absolutely freaks me out.

[@johnmiller7453]

She's in a better place. Anyplace is better than here.

[@nikolademitri731]

DermochelysCoriacea It freaks us all out, my friend, but that’s life/aging/death. I’m almost 32, I have some unfortunate health problems, but I’m still alive for now. Even just 3 years ago I was a muscular, healthy jock type (physically I mean, I’m a nerd), and now I’m a skinny, weak, greying, flesh bag of stress.. it’s been freaky as fucking hell to watch my body age so rapidly, but that’s the fucking cards I was dealt, and that’s the game. It’s all in how you play the game, it’s about how you react and deal with the pain and suffering, which is guaranteed. The Buddhists are correct, life is suffering, but you can make it beautiful. Sorry for rambling... ✌🏼

[@winupdate7854]

She was a prominent geographer. But it looks like she was very well versed in philosophy too. Great interview

[@salvereginalaile4336]

​​@@johnmiller7453i know. Dead ll be fun!

[@henryberrylowry9512]

Texo-Marxism. More Hegelian than Hegel could've conceived. This dude is awesome!

[@KnightofEkron]

Ikr!

[@DelandaBaudLacanian]

Texo-Marxism with Carolinian characteristics

[@nightoftheworld]

Zizek’s doppelgänger.. only without such deep Chestetonian Biblical insights

[@Firmus777]

Fighting Yankee aggression by any means necessary.

[@DelandaBaudLacanian]

TIL I am a cultural Texo-Marxist

[@liammcooper]

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" Didn't think I'd ever hear Rick Roderick quote HST. RIP to both of 'em

[@caylynmillard6047]

If anyone went to heaven, it was rick

[@bgc6439]

caylyn millard I’m hoping he’ll be there to chat with me in hell!

[@hanskung3278]

It's possible he's in purgatory.

[@todanes]

Anyone else think Russell Crowe for the Rick Roderick biopic?

[@weatheranddarkness]

Would have to see his audition tape. Rick's voice is so close to a played up stereotype of "southern" that it would be hard I think for someone who isn't steeped in speaking that way to do him proper justice.

[@johnmiller7453]

I admire Rick Roderick as one of the most brilliant minds of our time or any time in human history. To think he was to be found in West Texas just shows that gemstones are formed in unlikely and barren looking places. Boy it's a good thing for him he's not alive today. His comments on the educational system have gotten only worse and the average student is so terrified about their financial future, which likely isn't there, that they are willing to just jump through any hoop no matter how ugly or dehumanizing to make sure there is a job waiting for them. But then what are they going to do? And by that I mean what are they going to be feeling laying in bed night after night. Well Rick was a lot less pessimistic than I am. I think the dehumanization has already happened and it was in full swing well before he kicked that bucket. Makes me want to ask him for a cigarette just thinking about it. I'll be glad when my heart attack comes. But what a friend he would have made. I could be very content with one friend like him. I'd say I'm stuck with dogs but actually I feel grateful that I live with dogs and not humans. Happy trails Rick, I put you up there with the greatest thinkers and compassionate humans I've ever come across. Peace out brother.

[@johnmiller7453]

Yeah I miss them too along with George Carlin, Frank Zappa, Schopenhauer, Voltaire and a small handful more. And good luck to you Manin.

[@crsbeats5509]

It´s just like Adorno described it. His writings are a message in a bottle, ready to be unfolded by anyone who picks up the bottle and pulls the cork.

[@bryanutility9609]

The fruits of critical theory is feeding children hormone blockers.

[@wj2429]

Love to see intelligent people from poor families who don't have that same bland academic accent. A Working Class Hero, RIP.

[@nikolademitri731]

W J word! ✌️❤️♾

[@susanmcdonald9088]

Love Dr. Roderick! Wish he was around today! My favorite lecture, his lecture series THE SELF UNDER SIEGE, #8, FATAL STRATEGIES, about the Post-Modern, post-apocalyptic world of simulations, hyper-reality, spectacle, theatre, ecstacy, all the things we deal with today. A prophet.

[@nightsketcher]

yes!

[@niriop]

It was on Google video; I thought uploading it here would make it more accessible. Changed.

[@allypoum]

Rick was leagues ahead of his time in so many ways. Rest in peace comrade.

[@BenthzG]

Rick is one of the greatest men of all time

[@set2light]

Somehow I stumbled on this and was immediately stunned at the articulation, intelligence and self awareness of this man with the strange accent.

[@Cooliofamily]

Likening the American gulag to that of a trailer park I’m always finding new reasons to love this man

[@JimJWalker]

Can you imagine what Rick's KZbin would have been like?

[@PurpleWarlock]

I was sad when I lost my backup to this video. Luckily it got preserved.

[@nightoftheworld]

15:00 *Rick’s idealism* “certainly it is, because this is an interpretation that breaks decisively with Adorno’s pessimism. I myself find Adorno’s pessimism terribly attractive so I react against it violently. And I’m willing to see this contradiction in myself.”

[@johnpoulsen7582]

I can't believe I stumbled upon this gem.

[@taylorsteinberg]

Thank you for sharing this.

[@tarantala111]

What a fascinating talk! Thank you for posting.

[@KolyaKolyavitch]

Finding another Roderick video>>>

[@HSet77]

I wish he was still here - to comment on the current

[@TT-zi7hi]

same.

[@rentaghostokish5628]

Why did Rick just drop off the radar after 1993? Does anybody know what he was doing between 1993-2002?

[@mrgrimm415]

+Rentaghost okish Your mother.

[@garretthartley7044]

I''ve wondered the same thing. Maybe he's not dead . . .

[@blooberization]

rick roderick transplanted his brain into his biological Eric andre, genius

[@Keithlfpieterse]

@Max Roderick : The man was brilliant! I studied at the University of Amsterdam at the beginning of the 80's and my paper for my Bachelor's Degree was on the Frankfurter Schule; Benjamin, Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, Habermas. To this very day there are few philosophers capable of his [Rick's] skills/talents as a teacher, intellectual, story-teller, humorist, film buff [I share a lot of his tastes e.g. Bergman, Woody Allen, most probably Andrei Tarkovsky? etc. as well as his dislike of the characters in "The Big Chill".] Be proud of him and for what he gave the world - incl. his capacity for self-reflection, nuance and also his ability to laugh at his own foibles and question his beliefs - until your dying day. This is merely an attempt at showing you my respect for Rick Roderick, the American philosopher from a small town in West-Texas.. I shall "check out" your work in due course and who knows, send a response / feedback /maybe even the first steps in a dialogue? Keep well and lots of success in life! I wish you and your [extended] family well in these dark post-modernistic days/years!

[@jBurn801]

The way he sits says it all.

[@hanskung3278]

I don't know of too many lectures that have had their courses removed from the Great Courses catalog.

[@JazzGuitar420]

Does anybody know what piece that is playing at the beginning? Something of Handel's, maybe?

[@JazzGuitar420]

***** Thanks

[@kam1am]

damn they're sitting really close together

[@garretthartley7044]

hey Kam

[@jwt242]

Damn..How the hell did you find this awesome video? However you got it, thanks for posting it; it's very interesting to hear about Prof Roderick, the man. Like Prof. Roderick, I am also a Texan; accordingly, I would like to suggest a slight modification in your description. Instead of calling him a "Southern orator", you could use "Texan orator" as his accent is more Texan than Southern. Of course, I admit that this is a semantic distinction, but accurate nonetheless. Many thanks for the post.

[@KnightofEkron]

Good interviewer and RIP Rick T_T.

[@AMann9174]

That Scarlatti..

[@StreetsOfVancouverChannel]

“... and free baseball games.” BWWWWAHAHAH! Yes, Rick...

[@bernardreinhart6828]

How about the courtesy of naming the interviewer.

[@LiamRossGibson]

That would be almost as good as Bruce Willis in a Foucault biopic.

[@nightoftheworld]

20:22 “I think that the Hegelian concept of totality, of understanding literally everything about everything is an illusion and a dangerous one-politically and theoretically.” Rick never met Zizek. The Hegelian absolute is cracked by Lacan’s non-all. Hegel was aware that absolute knowledge is inherently an ontologically incomplete position-this lack marks for him our inclusion into the shadow of the universal.

[@emair8385]

@niriop I’m a family member of Rick’s and would love to know where you found this footage. I’d like to try to find a higher res version if possible, or just otherwise hunt down a hard copy for myself. Thanks!

[@niriop]

I downloaded it from Google Video years and years ago; I don't believe it's there still.

[@PurpleWarlock]

I also made a backup of the video on Google Video. :)

[@niriop]

@PurpleWarlock I know, that's where I got it from thanks; I thought it would be best to have a version on KZbin just in case/for easier viewing

[@francemaster]

I'd also like to know the name of the piece in the beginning, sounds like bach but not sure

[@hauskasiili]

It's one of the Scalartti's over 500 keyboard sonatas. They're a pretty solid taken as a whole so I'd just recommend delving into them.

[@niriop]

@infokemp I've removed your comments. Censorship perhaps, but I see it more in the light of rubbish removal.

[@CornellD.Cavendish]

“The disappearance of the bourgeois subject… what we used to call people”

[@davidnagy7478]

legend

[@ip-sum]

mood

[@wungabunga]

Interesting, I didn't get that from the interview myself.

[@MrPlummerjones]

the interviewer is so damn cute..

[@36cmbr]

The political right as well as left used bumper stickers that read 'Secede'. I wonder how they would vote after the recent Electricity Grid debacle. I thought I had heard all the KZbin offerings by professor Roderick. This one is new and I'm glad to get it. Rest In Power, professor Rick Roderick.

[@scoon2117]

I wish rick wouldve stopped eating those bug texas steaks he might still be with us 😢 hes my favorite professor of philosophy.

[@exe885]

When the going gets weird the weird turns pro.

[@exe885]

Real freedom

[@PappyMandarine]

12:48 To read the tradition of critical theory that comes out of Lukács and whom ????? If you know please tell me :)

[@jenslyn87]

Korsch! Here you go en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Korsch

[@dontaskwhatkindofmusic]

This man was with the Dao

[@nightoftheworld]

17:18 *Texo-Marxism*

[@niriop]

@infokemp Blocked for spamming

[@Jbenderii]

“[America] is mobile... like a trailer park.”

[@dylanvoisard]

a real Texan

[@ДмитрийВербицкий-у7д]

Davis Jose Thompson Edward Harris Matthew

[@EsatBargan]

Young Mary Robinson Christopher Garcia Joseph

[@niriop]

@infokemp Sometimes, there's just too much stupid [shoots self]

[@niriop]

No problemo

[@diviningrod2671]

Gone too young

[@niriop]

I...erm...well...hmmm...

[@niriop]

@infokemp Why are you jamming up my video with bullshit? Please fuck off.

[@niriop]

He'd need to gain a few pounds, but other than that, I think he could pull it off :P

[@opinionday0079]

you feel the lady will jump on him as soon as the camera stops rolling

[@rentaghostokish5628]

The interviewer comes across as a "thoroughly nice woman"...who has invited a guest speaker to one of her book group coffee mornings, and is realising she is way out of her depth.

[@Deantrey]

She seemed to be on the same page as him in at least one of her questions when she starts talking about agency or something.

[@johnmiller7453]

I disagree. I thought she was keeping up and asking some great questions. Otherwise it wouldn't have been such a great interview. Because of him I'll never have ill feelings towards West Texas.

[@ryfree]

I have to disagree as well. Maybe that's because I'm in love with her.

[@PappyMandarine]

Disagreed. She seeemed to understand exactly what he's talking about. Better than you and me. Her questions do reflect that too... She's just trying to let him have as much space as possible. An excellent interviewer in that regard.

[@karaool]

Hey, y'all! Doesn't questioning the validity of someone's philosophy based on their physiognomy and race (see 14:10-14:25 on the video) sound downright physiognomic and racist and, ultimately, dehumanizing? I mean, in a prima facie kinda way? Rick's philosophy and politics is fraught with all kinds of self- contradictions and paradox and irony. He's sort of a blithering idiot. This is especially apparent near the end of the video. But he's definitely right about one thing, the goal of philosophy should be to empower us as individuals and enable us to find our own way in a society that is hopefully free and just and where no one--not even fat, old white guys like Rick--is judged by their physiognomy or race or gender, etc; but by the quality of their character, their actions, their relationships, their thought and life, etc. Am I right, Ricksters? Say,"Amen" somebody! Amen.

[@dustiny.334]

let me guess: you are white and male yourself?

[@karaool]

Dustin Yx. At some point in past I would have said, "Yes, me laddy, most definitley!" But these days it's anyone's guess. Let's just say that, in today's gender spectrum, I have a predisposition toward maleness. But with the help of my Obamacare subsidy and MSM conditioning that may change radically. And sooner than you think! And thanks for calling me out, me laddy.

[@worldpeace8299]

F

[@Deantrey]

Lol I thought I missed something so I clicked that link. Him stating the fact that most people aren't white, and that it's not natural that most of the received wisdom and authority is white male is racist? I thought that was juts like, a fact? I mean you could disagree with what he is implying there. You could say that in fact, as I know others have said, white males just have a natural predisposition towards intelligence other races lack. But then you would be a racist. That is, after all, the racist belief that comes before all other racist beliefs. So in either case, whether you accept what he is saying is true, or you do not, you couldn't argue he was being racist.

[@johnmiller7453]

No Amen from me. Hardly an idiot. One thing I've come to realize about Rick is that his life informs his outlook and he doesn't pretend. In other lectures he's acknowledged your observations. He's a human after all and makes no pretence of being better than that. He's called himself a fat white man many times in other lectures. I'm curious, what's your example of a wise man?

[@crimsonsamuraiftw]

The interviewer appears entirely out of her league, and at times completely unprepared. To her defense at least she let him continue speaking the truth.