Postmodernism...

[Nyx]

Postmodernism is so absurd...like an amalgamation of all the sifted through psychic and literal "junk" from every previous generation. As I sit here and think about it, it becomes even more bizarre... just the concept of postmodern is unnerving. Whenever I think about it I feel like I have a pretty violent reaction. Anyone in the bracket of late teens to late twenties age might understand this tone of absurdity over-toned materialism and vanity. It just seems our age compounded with the advent of communication technology has created a veritable clusterfuck of information. I feel like the amount of information inundating my senses every moment is unbearable in its breadth of history. And it all has to do with the spike in technological advancement... but where are we going from here? I do not sense this as anything hopeful or progressive in any sense, but inherently meaningless. I have heard postmodernism is supposed to be about authenticity (?) but, if this is true, the search has yielded everything frivolous, and the pleasures of the world unsatisfying. I feel like we knew this all too well in previous ages, but this age is completely absorbed in worshiping a well known God, Mammon...drowning in a nihilistic void of sorts, but perhaps most people are unaware of it.

Here's an article in this vein of thought: The End of Solitude - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Where can we possibly go from here? (Or maybe there should be no more we)

First images that came up on a Google images search of "postmodernism":

and, of course, the embodiment of postmodernism... the hipster:

 

[Sniffles]

The standard form of postmodernism is indeed absurd garbage; however there are some strains worthy of support - particularly in the form of Radical Orthodoxy.

 

[LEGERdeMAIN]

I would recommend learning about General Semantics or, more specifically, the time-binding element Korzybski espoused. I also recommend learning about cybernetics and metasystem transition.

"The medium is the message."

"The map is not the territory."

Abstractions are necessary as the amount of information available for perception increases, especially considering how much of it is available through real-time, graphic representations(HD television, interactive media). By studying and understanding these concepts you may come to the conclusion that postmodernism is an attempt to remove millions of layers built up after 7000 years of civilization and to rearrange them to make sense of it all. It's a boot, fail, reboot procedure.

 

[Alwar]

In the book The Culture of Narcissism, Christopher Lasch speculates that modernism and post-modernism grew out of the industrial age as a result of fine art being accessible to common people. That is, as soon as the peasants had access to easily produced ornamentation, the elite no longer stood apart and had to come up with some bullshit to separate themselves by rejecting certain values in art and science such as excellence, precision, craftsmanship, usefulness etc.

Anyway, it's a good book and there are many others, usually dealing with the damage done to science such as Fashionable Nonsense by Alan Sokal.

 

[Nonsensical]

Ferris Bueller encompasses everything that Postmodernism is. He is often studied heavily, and referenced among Psychologists.

 

[Take Five]

^They never show Ferris Bueller after graduation; that is, if he graduated.

 

[Nonsensical]

^They never show Ferris Bueller after graduation; that is, if he graduated.

What is graduation anyways? But the completion of one man's goals..but how do we know when we've graduated? Do we really every graduate?

 

[Take Five]

What is graduation anyways? But the completion of one man's goals..but how do we know when we've graduated? Do we really every graduate?

Having a high school diploma in your possession is usually the standard indicator.

 

[Litvyak]

I think we're already advancing to a new zeitgeist, somewhere between the hopes of transhumanism and the demand for a new 'whole' worldview from the shreds of reality.

Gans associates postmodernism closely with “victimary thinking,” which he defines as being based on a non-negotiable ethical opposition between perpetrators and victims arising out of the experience of Auschwitz and Hiroshima.

I strongly agree.

Post-postmodernism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Ginkgo]

Postmodernism dismantles the essence discovery and tradition and ships the parts en masse. This devalues societal structure of all sorts; seeing as information is the life-blood of our culture. Thus, we will probably experience a reconfiguration of the structure itself, or we will see a new structure arise. With the overpopulation of the new generation - a thankless generation - a generation that believes it is endowed automatic approval, education, recognition, and life itself, we are bound to stagnation and death.

Indeed, you are not yourself. You are a product of all that has been. Individuality is an illusion that blinds narcissistic parasites of today.

Postmodernism and modernism is the chemotherapy. It is the poison that nurtures you, for you were born ill. The only escape is through exile.

 

[Sniffles]

In the book The Culture of Narcissism, Christopher Lasch speculates that modernism and post-modernism grew out of the industrial age as a result of fine art being accessible to common people. That is, as soon as the peasants had access to easily produced ornamentation, the elite no longer stood apart and had to come up with some bullshit to separate themselves by rejecting certain values in art and science such as excellence, precision, craftsmanship, usefulness etc.

Anyway, it's a good book and there are many others, usually dealing with the damage done to science such as Fashionable Nonsense by Alan Sokal.

Yes Christopher Lasch's books are very good.

 

[Ardea]

postmodernism makes me a sad panda

 

[Athenian200]

Say what you will, I love postmodernism.

I wish more people thought that way... it seems like no one else understands it where I live. The other way of life is living with ideas being forced down your throat that you can't question.

 

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Postmodernism addresses some of the deficiencies of Modernism by coming up with something much worse.

 

[Sniffles]

Postmodernism addresses some of the deficiencies of Modernism by coming up with something much worse.

That pretty much sums it all up.

 

[Haphazard]

It seems kind of dumb to name a movement "postmodernism". I mean, it was kind of dumb to have "modernism" in the first place. So you have "modernism" and "postmodernism", what comes next? The naming trend is unsustainable!

 

[Ginkgo]

Say what you will, I love postmodernism.

I wish more people thought that way... it seems like no one else understands it where I live. The other way of life is living with ideas being forced down your throat that you can't question.

That's untrue. Sometimes I wonder if you object for the sake of objection.

 

[Sniffles]

It seems kind of dumb to name a movement "postmodernism". I mean, it was kind of dumb to have "modernism" in the first place. So you have "modernism" and "postmodernism", what comes next?

"Post-postmodernism" - and no I'm not making this up.

 

[Matthew_Z]

Does anyone have a concise definition of postmodernism?

 

[Sniffles]

My attempt at a concise definition

Does anyone have a concise definition of postmodernism?

"An intellectual mode of thought that attempts to critically examine and transcend the prevailing paradigms of modernity."