Elliott Werner writes: 'Peter, I read this posting with interest. I like to think of myself as someone who is fairly well read and who likes to keep up with what is going on in the rarified atmosphere of academia, but who also remains in touch with a lot of ordinary people. I believe (without really being able to cite any evidence) that the “group of philosophers who became known as post-modernists” have about as much influence on western culture as the foam on top of a wave has on the underlying ocean.'
Excellent, thought-provoking piece. I never thought about sadomasochism in the context you put it, but it makes perfect sense. If you're a group looking to bring down a country or civilization itself, the best ways to do that is to de-sacralize every component of society: the family unit, religion/spirituality, ethics, morals, individual sovereignty, one's relationship to nature, the biological differences between men and women, etc. I never understood post-modernism in its heyday, but I see it clearly in retrospect. It was a way for people to indulge perverted fantasies with the imprimatur of society. If you despise the narrow, puritanical constraints of an era, what better way to overthrow them than to trash everything sacred? Only much later did we recognize the post-revolutionary wreckage and the cost of jettisoning social mores.
Elliott Werner writes: 'Peter, I read this posting with interest. I like to think of myself as someone who is fairly well read and who likes to keep up with what is going on in the rarified atmosphere of academia, but who also remains in touch with a lot of ordinary people. I believe (without really being able to cite any evidence) that the “group of philosophers who became known as post-modernists” have about as much influence on western culture as the foam on top of a wave has on the underlying ocean.'
Excellent, thought-provoking piece. I never thought about sadomasochism in the context you put it, but it makes perfect sense. If you're a group looking to bring down a country or civilization itself, the best ways to do that is to de-sacralize every component of society: the family unit, religion/spirituality, ethics, morals, individual sovereignty, one's relationship to nature, the biological differences between men and women, etc. I never understood post-modernism in its heyday, but I see it clearly in retrospect. It was a way for people to indulge perverted fantasies with the imprimatur of society. If you despise the narrow, puritanical constraints of an era, what better way to overthrow them than to trash everything sacred? Only much later did we recognize the post-revolutionary wreckage and the cost of jettisoning social mores.