|
|
What is postmodernism?
The concept that the whole is greater than the the sum of its parts. As opposed to modernism which tenders that the whole is EQUAL to the sum of its parts
Postmodernism massively increases the size of the whole, occupies the interstitial space between part and whole, and deconstructs the parts; leaving the whole intact but massively nebulous.
The "whole" can also be called the context.
While formally opposing objectivity, Postmodernism actually assumes it, because it leaves the whole (the context) intact although greatly enlarged; while deconstructing only the constituent parts ie it ASSUMES a whole.
postmodernism - meme gif
postmodernism - video
Postmodernism - what is it?
A pseudo-intellectual excuse to do whatever the hell we want to do without respect to any immutable principles of time and space.
"O yeah, the funeral...I guess I flaked."
"Um..well, that's YOUR truth. I guess I'm just not as incestophobic as you are. Hey, could you get me a beer while you're in there dad?"
"Don't listen to him. He left his brain in the postmodernism drop-box."
What does "postmodernism" mean?
Postmodernism is a movement thought up by the French, and promulgated by academics which has contributed massively to all of our lives by:
1) ensuring that no child going to school in the 70s and 80s was taught grammar
2) confusing the hell out of, causing to fail, and generally annoying any uni student studying philosophy or law
3) of course the veracity of (1) and (2) depend on context, and truth is subjective, and as all meanings are a product of both THE MAN and THE SYSTEM what you say is only valid from your own point of view as is this whole urban dictionary entry, anyway
All the people who thought this up, and continue to promulgate it, and make people write essays about it, will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.
The planes flying into the twin towers didn't cause them to burst into flames and collapse, using a different frame of reference, in accordance with postmodernism, the towers collapsed of their own accord in line with the inevitable consequences of capitalism
Postmodernism - what does it mean?
Imagine that on everyone's hand there is a penis and a vagina. Now imagine what it would be like to shake hands with someone.
Fred: Hi, I'm Fred Derkowitz, nice to meet you.
Bob: Hi Fred I'm Bob. Oh God.
Fred: That feels amazing.
Bob: L’important, c’est que le sexe n’ait pas été seulement affaire de sensation et de plaisir, de loi ou d’interdiction, mais aussi de vrai et de faux. Postmodernism booyakasha.
Postmodernism - meaning
Postmodernism: pseudo-intellectual Trojan Horse of tyrants everywhere in the western world. Began in Arts faculties in various universities under "thinkers" like Derrida, Baudrillard, Foucault and Irigaray, and spread like a cancer into at least the "soft" sciences, if not further afield.
Works insidiously by establishing in the minds of the faithful that there are no ultimate truths in either a moral or a scientific sense, and dressing up bullshit in flowery language. Postmodernism pretends to be a guarantor of pluralism (a concept far better served, btw, by rational debate), and is in love with concepts such as the "transgressive" and the "paradigm shift". Unfortunately these matters are brought up in the midst of reams and reams of tendentious twaddle which constitute a dreadful waste of perfectly good trees, and the most notable effect of postmodernist (un)thinking is not the freeing of anyone's mind from conservative tyranny, but the scrapping of the very idea of objective truth. Once this happens, of course, what follows (outside the ivory towers of academia) is that the game goes, set and match, to the fellah with the biggest guns. Many conservative factions claimed that September 11 spelled the end of postmodernism. Ohhhh nooo, postmodernist twaddle was only just getting its boots on.
To take an (admittedly anachronistic) example of what is essentially the same thing:
"A new and magical understanding of the world is on the rise, one based on will rather than truth. There is no truth, in either the scientific or the moral sense."
- Adolf Hitler
They didn't find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but Blair says they still except to find them and he walks in hope! How beautifully in line with the creed of postmodernism!
A recent postmodernism-infected view of the war in Iraq explained that Bush and Blair were "creating new realities" for the rest of the world to study.
Postmodernism - definition
An ideology based upon the silly idea that metaphors can meaningfully serve as the subject of a transitive verb. Favored by university faculty who have nothing better to do than waste my time.
Colleague: This modality of the social construction of gender can _speak_ causally, but it cannot _think_ causally.
Me: You are wasting my time with this silly postmodernism.
Postmodernism - slang
Postmodernism is a cargo cult. It seeks to duplicate the form of rational inquiry, while lacking the substance. It's children dressing up in parents' clothes, and complaining about things they don't understand, like taxes and sciatica, for no better reason than that is what they see adults doing with their time. Monkey see, monkey do.
Postmodernists believe that if they make their terminology sufficiently obscurantist, sesquipedalian, and circumloquatious, nobody will notice the lack of substance. To a large extent, they are correct in that belief.
Some postmodern philosophers (like Baudrillard) are beyond help, while others (like Foucault) are largely salvageable. This must be judged on a case-by-case basis, but not without boots to wade through the exceedingly thick bullshit that permeates the entire idea-space.
When you start getting to ideas such as "science is sexist because it probes the natural world (which is the sacred feminine) against its will, thus committing rape" it's time to throw the document in the fire. It's important to leave a lot of room around the fire, though, as you've probably underestimated how much pomo literature is totally worthless.
Jack: I just learned about postmodernism in college, and now I totally believe in it, and self-identify as such.
Jill: You and every other gullible sophomore looking for an intellectual family where you can't possibly be wrong, you fucking latte-sipping coward.
Postmodernism
Postmodernism has no definition. That's what makes it so postmodern.
This example is postmodernism incarnate.
Postmodernism
A term that you keep on hearing about in college and have to look up on Wikipedia. Basically says "fuck it" to the search for any intellectual conclusions.
Once you look up postmodernism on Wikipedia, feel free to sound smart around your friends by using it in conversations!
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is the ultimate lubricant invented by social sciences in order to fuck every concept and structure that humans ever came up with. At the same time it is used as a means for social sciences to penetrate one another.
Anthropology put some postmodernism on its cock and managed to penetrate History so deep that it screamed...then it turned towards Political Science, which fainted immediately.