There’s a political pundit who is fond of pointing out, “Facts don’t care about your feelings.” Well, in postmodernism, one’s feelings don’t care about your facts!
The Enlightenment was a high point in Western civilization; it has been on a downhill slide from there in recent times. I believe postmodernist thought, originating in the mid to late 20th century, is to blame. Birthed largely in academia, it has since grown into all of the West’s institutions. What is postmodernism? It posits the subjectivity of truth. From there, one arrives at moral relativism, cultural relativism, and neo Marxism.
Classical liberalism has adhered to the objectivity of truth, whereas leftism seems to embrace postmodernism. It used to be on the fringes of political discourse, but it has become much more mainstream in the 21st century. If you ever hear someone declaring that society needs to “reimagine” something, that is likely postmodernist thinking. Just some of the telltale results are: moral confusion, gender confusion, identity politics, anti-capitalism, collectivism, anti-Westernism, anti-patriotism, and even skepticism over the inherent objectivity of mathematics.
Now, you might ask, “How can an ideology that promotes cultural relativism also be anti-Westernism? Isn’t that a contradiction?” Well, yes, it is a contradiction— merely one of several in the movement. Postmodernism abhors criticism of all cultures except for Western, European cultures. Regarding the West, it is highly judgmental. Postmodernists, ironically enough, only expect Western societies to adhere to Postmodernism in the first place!
You might also want to point out that evangelical Christianity, with its continuing belief in Creationism, is also putting ideology and belief ahead of what is generally accepted as factual and scientific. My response to that is at least Christianity places a high value on objectivity and fundamental truths. However, Postmodernism is actually reducing society’s trust in institutions (such as science in this case) even further because it is detracting from the rigor and trustworthiness that adhering to objectivity provides. People of faith will not be convinced to trust science more anytime soon if they feel it has been tainted by the ideological agenda of Postmodernism. You might also want to ask yourself why you don’t feel that same need to point out the same issue with much of the Islamic world!
In short, left unchecked, Postmodernism leads to confusion, chaos, and the decline of Western societies. Worst of all, that may actually be a feature rather than a bug…
The Enlightenment was a high point in Western civilization; it has been on a downhill slide from there in recent times. I believe postmodernist thought, originating in the mid to late 20th century, is to blame. Birthed largely in academia, it has since grown into all of the West’s institutions. What is postmodernism? It posits the subjectivity of truth. From there, one arrives at moral relativism, cultural relativism, and neo Marxism.
Classical liberalism has adhered to the objectivity of truth, whereas leftism seems to embrace postmodernism. It used to be on the fringes of political discourse, but it has become much more mainstream in the 21st century. If you ever hear someone declaring that society needs to “reimagine” something, that is likely postmodernist thinking. Just some of the telltale results are: moral confusion, gender confusion, identity politics, anti-capitalism, collectivism, anti-Westernism, anti-patriotism, and even skepticism over the inherent objectivity of mathematics.
Now, you might ask, “How can an ideology that promotes cultural relativism also be anti-Westernism? Isn’t that a contradiction?” Well, yes, it is a contradiction— merely one of several in the movement. Postmodernism abhors criticism of all cultures except for Western, European cultures. Regarding the West, it is highly judgmental. Postmodernists, ironically enough, only expect Western societies to adhere to Postmodernism in the first place!
You might also want to point out that evangelical Christianity, with its continuing belief in Creationism, is also putting ideology and belief ahead of what is generally accepted as factual and scientific. My response to that is at least Christianity places a high value on objectivity and fundamental truths. However, Postmodernism is actually reducing society’s trust in institutions (such as science in this case) even further because it is detracting from the rigor and trustworthiness that adhering to objectivity provides. People of faith will not be convinced to trust science more anytime soon if they feel it has been tainted by the ideological agenda of Postmodernism. You might also want to ask yourself why you don’t feel that same need to point out the same issue with much of the Islamic world!
In short, left unchecked, Postmodernism leads to confusion, chaos, and the decline of Western societies. Worst of all, that may actually be a feature rather than a bug…
