My Beef with Postmodernism

     Today I wanted to take a little time to explain one of the major themes of my blog: postmodernism.  I have held a quite oppositional stance in regards to postmodernism, which is probably somewhat obvious from my blogs.  Much of the reason I stand so firmly against postmodernism is reflected in a personal mantra I try to follow: "Ignorance is the enemy."   

     For those of you unfamiliar with this term "postmodernism," it refers to a popular mindset that there is not absolute truth, only subjective truth.  Each individual is free to develop what is true and pursue their own path to happiness, or enlightenment, or perfection.  No one can reasonably argue against another's viewpoint because their truth is not another's.  The main issues that it deals with are religion and philosophy.  The most common way it finds itself manifested in society is the "live and let live" way of living.

     Now, I want to say that it is a noble goal to live in harmony with one another, but ignorance is not the way to do so.  One does not build a stable relationship by avoiding any tough situations.  One does not have a healthy marriage when the couple never has an argument.  The real meat of a relationship is understanding the differences between your own way of thinking and someone else's.  Now this might not sound like it goes against what postmodernism stands for, but in practice, postmodernism finds the participants of a relationship simply avoiding the tough conversations because it gets nowhere.

     This is another fault that postmodernism has allowed to resurface in a big way: human pride.  In having our own personal truth, which goes uncontested, we grow arrogant that our own truth is obviously better than anyone else's.  So when we do have individuals who speak their mind about certain topics, we find they are often ignoramuses who simply like the sound of their own voice.  Thus the activity of reasonable debate grows more taboo in the company of friends.  

     It also further reinforces the mindset of "us vs. them" that seems to be extremely prevalent in U.S. society.  We make saints out of those who champion our cause and see only the straw men of our imaginations as the opposition.  Our well-meaning debates suddenly become games that hold a bloodthirsty crowd around the ring.  Arguments are left with either
victory" or "loss" rather than celebrating the victory of open minds. 

     So this is my problem with postmodernism: that it encourages people to convince themselves of their own rightness rather than go out and explore what people have to say.  The problems that our government faces are very much rooted in the problems of postmodern thinking.  The problems we as the voting and politically-active citizens face are because of those flawed ideas contained within postmodern thinking.  Please, if you get nothing else from my blogs, understand my motto and remember it: Ignorance is the enemy.