"One should doubtless keep an open mind...though open at both ends, like the food pipe, and have a capacity for excretion as well as intake." -- Northrop Frye, 'The Great Code'
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Political correctness - a blight on liberty
Here's Dr. Srdja Trifkovic comparing Western postmodern politically correct society with the post-Stalin Soviet bloc and Yugo under Tito. It doesn't compare well:
And I used it because Dr. Trifkovich uses it several times in his particular context.
As for definitions, I don’t think there is a concise “definition” of postmodernism that is of much use. The subject covers a lot of intellectual territory. However, if you listen to Dr. Trifkovich’s discussion you’ll get an idea of his understanding of the term most relevant here. He speaks, for example, of the pomo leftists’ cultural Marxist obsessions with the identity politics of race gender and sexuality; he talks about George Soros and his Open Society Institute’s emphasis on deconstructing the classical education model and the dumbing down of education in the West. Other pomo notions that are promoted widely by the left include cultural and moral relativity and their various permutations which lead to all manner of contradiction including the left’s idolization of totalitarian tyrants like Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Fidel and Che and their current support of Islamists (eg. Hamas, Hezballah) in their pursuit of demonizing and destroying Israel. Dr. Trifkovich notes that the Western “elites”, most notably leftist academic and media elites have internalized these “idiocies” (which he repeats a number of times) over decades and now uncritically accept them as “truth” beyond debate.
OK. That’s way more than I initially intended to say. Beyond this I refer you to David Thompson who has written much (and very well) on the subject.
Define postmodern.
ReplyDeleteOne word - Google.
ReplyDeleteI was actually interested in hearing your definition, since you used the word.
ReplyDeleteAnd I used it because Dr. Trifkovich uses it several times in his particular context.
ReplyDeleteAs for definitions, I don’t think there is a concise “definition” of postmodernism that is of much use. The subject covers a lot of intellectual territory. However, if you listen to Dr. Trifkovich’s discussion you’ll get an idea of his understanding of the term most relevant here. He speaks, for example, of the pomo leftists’ cultural Marxist obsessions with the identity politics of race gender and sexuality; he talks about George Soros and his Open Society Institute’s emphasis on deconstructing the classical education model and the dumbing down of education in the West. Other pomo notions that are promoted widely by the left include cultural and moral relativity and their various permutations which lead to all manner of contradiction including the left’s idolization of totalitarian tyrants like Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Fidel and Che and their current support of Islamists (eg. Hamas, Hezballah) in their pursuit of demonizing and destroying Israel. Dr. Trifkovich notes that the Western “elites”, most notably leftist academic and media elites have internalized these “idiocies” (which he repeats a number of times) over decades and now uncritically accept them as “truth” beyond debate.
OK. That’s way more than I initially intended to say. Beyond this I refer you to David Thompson who has written much (and very well) on the subject.
UPDATE: As the originally linked YouTube channel has been silenced, here are other sources of the videos: Part 1, Part 2
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q46KXZZHjkI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgfp_PufWKk